House of MLA's sister robbed at gunpoint in city

LUCKNOW: Unidentified miscreants robbed cash and jewellery from the house of a BJP MLA’s sister after holding her and her husband hostage in Manaknagar in the wee hours of Saturday.
According to the police, Geeta Singh, sister of BJP MLA from Mallawan Ashish Singh, lives with her husband Sudhir in 559 K/89, Shringarnagar locality of Manaknagar. Her husband is an officer at the DRM office, while she is a teacher.

Around 12.30am, the couple woke up in shock when they heard someone breaking down their main door. Police said by the time they reacted, two miscreants entered the room and trained a pistol at them. They warned them against moving or calling the police.

The intruders snatched the couple’s phones and attacked them with rods, forcing them to hand over keys of the cupboard. They looted Rs 21,000 cash and jewellery worth Rs 60,000 and fled.

The couple, still in shock, could not muster the courage to speak to anyone. “We decided not to speak as we apprehended they would still be outside. A reaction could prove fatal. Only at day break did we peep through the windows to check if the miscreants had left. Then we called our neighbours,” Geeta told police.

Using her neighbour’s phone, Geeta called her brother who informed the SSP. Members of the forensic science laboratory and dog squad reached the spot of the crime. ASP (east) Sarvesh Mishra said the miscreants were familiar with the area.

“Prima facie, there were three persons. One was outside on a bike while two scaled the boundary of the house with the motive of loot,” said Mishra.

He said CCTV cameras around the house, if any, would be checked. A watchman who used to daily take rounds around 2am did not come on Saturday, he added.

Recounting the horror, Sudhir told TOI, “They were young but looked fearful. They were confident with piercing eyes. One of them said, ‘Give me the keys or I will give you a bullet’. We were too terrified to protest.”