5 hold wine shop staff at gunpoint, steal Rs 50k, liquor

GURUGRAM: Five men have been booked for allegedly stealing Rs 50,000 and a few alcohol bottles from a wine shop in Palam Vihar's C2 block on Saturday night. The assailants. police said, also took the digital video recorder (DVR), that records CCTV footage, from the shop before fleeing.
According to the police, the accused — of whom three had their faces covered — reached Kuldeep wine shop around 11.45 pm on a bike and a scooter. The employees of the wine shop, who were closing the shop for the day, told cops that the men barged into the shop even after being told that the sales for the day were over.

The staff alleged that the men held Rakshpal, in-charge of the wine shop, hostage at gunpoint and asked others to clear the cash box and hand over the money to them.

"One of them was carrying a 'katta' and pointed it towards Rakshpal, who was managing the shop at that time," said Vivek Kundu, SHO of Sector 5 police station.

As it was the closing time, Rakshpal had just finished counting the cash collected from the sales that evening when the accused barged in. The staff at the wine shop told cops that after taking the money, the accused went behind the counter, thrashed another staff and snatched 4-5 bottles of liquor.

One of the accused disconnected the DVR and took the machine before rushing out of the shop.

When TOI asked cops if they suspect the accused to have carried out a recce of the shop before committing the crime, Kundu said the DVR was placed in full public view and was easy for anyone to grab it. After the accused left the shop, the employees dialled 100 and reported the case. Sources said two police stations — Sector 5 and Bajghera — could not initially decide the jurisdiction of the crime. However, when asked about the same Kundu denied any such confusion. Rakshpal told cops that the day's collection had already been transferred in the afternoon and the Rs 50,000 cash that the accused robbed was the evening's sales collection.

On Rakshpal's statement, an FIR was registered under sections 395 (dacoity) and 397 (robbery) of the IPC and relevant sections of the Arms Act, at the Sector 5 police station on Sunday.

Police are now gathering the CCTV footage of nearby areas from the crime spot to help them identify the accused. A unit of the crime branch has also been asked to assist the police in their investigation.