The family of a 45-year-old software engineer, working in the US, was allegedly robbed of cash and gold during the early hours of June 3 by three armed robbers who held his two minor daughters at gunpoint.

The robbers fled with cash and valuables from outside his apartment in Ramprastha Colony, Ghaziabad.

The police said the robbery took place 3.30am and the robbers seemed to have had information that the family will be leaving home so early.

According to software engineer Rajesh Pandey, he, his wife and two daughters, aged 14 years and nine years, had come from the US last week and were to take a 6am flight to Bengaluru from the Delhi airport.

Rajesh’s father Narayan Dutt Pandey, 72, is a retired officer of the Research & Analysis Wing. He, too, sustained injuries when he tried to resist the robbers who were armed with weapons and had their faces covered.

“Rajesh and family had come from the US last week. They were to leave for Bengaluru on some work. So we booked a local taxi and asked the driver to arrive at 3.30am on June 3. The taxi arrived on time and the guard of our apartment opened the main gate. I was the first one go down and saw two of the three men talking to the driver. After the incident, the driver told me that the men had put a gun to his head and made him hand over Rs 1,000 and the car keys,” Narayan Dutt said.

In the meantime, Rajesh, his wife, daughters and Rajesh’s mother also came downstairs. One of the robbers had parked his scooter about 100 yards away from the spot while two of his accomplices entered the main gate of the apartment.

“One of the two men pulled out a weapon and pointed it at my son. They pulled out his wallet and took out Rs 15,000 cash. Next, they tried to grab my daughter-in-law’s gold chain but she resisted. Then they pointed their guns at my granddaughters. The girls were terrified. It was then that my daughter-in-law gave away her ornaments. They also tried to grab my wife’s gold chain but she pushed them away. In between, I tried to snatch their weapons but they pushed me and I fell, sustaining injuries,” Narayan Dutt said.

The locality is barely a kilometre away from Delhi’s Anand Vihar locality. The family said the robbers fled with whatever valuables they could grab and the entire incident took four or five minutes during which time the guard and the taxi driver stood silent.

“The robbers were aged about 20-21 years and were wearing masks and were dressed in jeans and shirt. A CCTV camera installed at the house of our neighbour captured the incident but their faces were not clear. After the robbery, the taxi driver went home to fetch the duplicate car keys and I asked my son and his family to rush to the airport by around 4am,” Narayan Dutt said.

After the family left for Bengaluru, Narayan Dutt filed a complaint at the Link Road police station. The Ghaziabad police lodged an FIR under IPC Section 394 (causing hurt while committing robbery) against the three unidentified robbers.

“We have registered an FIR and several teams are trying to crack the case. It appears that the robbers had arrived from the Delhi-Ghaziabad border. We have some CCTV footage available and are working on leads. The family calls the same taxi driver for their travel. Robbery at 3.30am is unusual and it seems that someone had knowledge that the family will be leaving home at that time,” Shlok Kumar, superintendent of police (city), said.

First Published: Jun 05, 2019 09:04 IST