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Ludhiana: Six armed robbers struck at the Dugri Road branch of Muthoot Finance on Friday morning. Three of them were held with the looted gold, while three managed to flee with cash.
Around 8.45am, security guard Gurmeet Singh and employee Rajan Kumar reached outside the finance company’s office located on the first floor of a building. Soon, five robbers struck there and their accomplice stood guard downstairs.
Gurmeet said, “At gunpoint, they asked us to open the office. We told them that three keys were required to open it, so they would have to wait for another employee. Minutes later, staffer Umesh Kumar reached there and the robbers made us open the office. Two more employees, Jyoti and Diksha, and janitor Shubham also arrived. The accused made them sit on the floor, tied their hands with ropes and taped their mouths.”
“They asked us to stay quiet and said they would not harm us. Then, they asked Rajan to accompany them and collected cash and gold jewellery mortgaged by people for loan. They filled their bags with 30kg gold and Rs 2.75 lakh and went downstairs,” he added.
Meanwhile, the company’s headquarters had smelled a rat. As the employees had not marked their attendance online, the company headquarters checked their CCTVs and found them hostage at gunpoint. They alerted their other branch employees and the Ludhiana police.
When the accused came downstairs, police and MS Alagh, an employee of the Gill Road branch of the company, were present. As Alagh intercepted them, the robbers opened fire. Alagh sustained a bullet injury on his arm, but did not let them go, said eyewitnesses.
“The robbers fired at least 20 shots. Daljit Singh, who works at a nearby car market, also sustained an injury on his leg. While three robbers fled with the cash bag, police nabbed three others with the help of the public,” said an eyewitness.
The police recovered 30kg gold from them.
The spot is about 500m from Atam Nagar police post.
Robbers came from Bihar to execute robbery
Commissioner of police Rakesh Agarwal said, “All the robbers, who were wearing masks and gloves, hailed from Bihar and had come to the city to execute the robbery. Those arrested include Roshan Kumar, 23, Saurav Kumar, 19, and Kamlesh Kumar, 23. They had made the plan one-and-a-half month ago and were living in a rented accommodation in Chandigarh. They started visiting the city for a recce about 20 days ago. They kept an eye on staff and their timings and even did a rehearsal two days ago. After committing the robbery, they had planned to return to Chandigarh.”
Agarwal added, “Saurav is a proclaimed offender in a case of robbery at Central Bank of India, Vaishali, Bihar, which was executed in March, and in another case of loot at a filling station, also in Bihar. Roshan is facing kidnapping and robbery cases and we are checking criminal records of the other accused.”
On why Ludhiana was targeted, he said, “Because it is the financial capital of Punjab. The case is being investigated. We are also probing if any company employee was involved. The accused knew that a password is required to enter the office and had disconnected the system.”
The seizure
Police have recovered three pistols, 30 live cartridges, five magazines, nine bullet shells, three motorcycles, a black bag containing tapes, ropes, a screwdriver, three keys, one cutter, one nail cutter and two hammers from them. The robbers’ associates on the run included Sushil, Alok Singh and Varun, all from Patna.
Three nabbed
Three of the accused managed to escape, but the other three were not so lucky. While they were trying to flee, two pillion riders fell from the speeding bike and were nabbed by people and the police. In the meantime, an SUV hit the bike and its rider was also caught. People thrashed the accused before handing him over to the police.
‘Police did not fire’
Agarwal said the robbers fired nine shots and four persons suffered bullet injuries. They included three employees of the company: Aditya Sharma, MS Alagh and Surinder Kumar. The fourth one is Daljeet. Another employee, Umesh Kumar, suffered a fracture in his hand. “The police did not open fire. People helped us nab the accused,” said Agarwal.