The incident took place in Adarsh Nagar. (File)
Forty-five days after robbing a jewellery store in Shalimar Bagh, three armed assailants killed a 40-year-old jeweller in front of his 12-year-old son during a robbery attempt on Tuesday afternoon. The investigation has so far revealed that the incident, which took place in northwest Delhi’s Adarsh Nagar, was recorded on CCTV. Police say the assailants in both heists were wearing the same clothes.
DCP (northwest) Aslam Khan said the jeweller has been identified as Hemant Kaushal. “He stayed with his family above the jewellery shop. He was at his shop on Tuesday afternoon when his son joined him and started studying there,” she said.
Police said the incident took place around 4 pm when Kaushal was standing near his shop’s door. Three people wearing helmets arrived on a bike and pushed him inside. “Wielding pistols, they threatened to shoot him, his son and the workers. They made them lie down on the floor and started putting the jewellery and cash in their bag. As they were leaving, Kaushal caught one of them and threw him on a sofa. The men then shot him in the chest. They then fled the spot, leaving the boy with his father’s body,” a senior police officer said.
After hearing gunshots, family members rushed down and took him to a nearby hospital, where he was declared brought dead. A PCR call was made and police were alerted. “Police rushed to the spot with forensic experts and a dog squad. Prima facie it appears that the assailants knew that the shop was fitted with CCTV cameras,” an officer said.
Police said they are yet to ascertain the value of the stolen jewellery. “Police scanned CCTV footage and found a similarity with a robbery case from Shalimar Bagh, where a gang of armed robbers attacked a jewellery store and fled with valuables worth Rs 6 lakh on April 28,” police sources said, adding that the criminals were wearing the same clothes.
Police are yet to ascertain the identity of the accused. “Police found that they were present inside the shop for around 10 minutes, but no customer came during that time. Police have shared the registration number of the motorcycle with the transport department,” the official said.
Heist in Rohini
Three men allegedly robbed valuables worth Rs 27 lakh from a jewellery store in Rohini.
“They decamped with valuables worth Rs 27 lakh and took the digital video recorder of the CCTV cameras. Shop employees told police that the accused had also come last week on the pretext of buying jewellery, but had left saying they would come back later,” an officer said.