4 hold family hostage, rob them of Rs 5 lakh; 3 held

Greater Noida: Four masked men allegedly broke into a house in Dankaur, held the family living there hostage at gunpoint, and fled with cash and jewellery amounting to nearly Rs 5 lakh on Monday.
One of the robbers was nabbed while trying to escape, while two others were detained for questioning.
The men have been identified as Vikas, his brother Chanchal and cousin Sonu from Dankaur’s Moonjkheda village. Cops are trying to trace the fourth man, who hasn’t been identified yet.
Sandeep (19), the complainant, lives in the same village. He told police that three of the robbers allegedly entered the house by climbing the terrace.
They then broke into the room where Sandeep was asleep around 1.30am on Monday, while another was on the lookout in front of the house.
The trio were allegedly armed with country-made pistols and overpowered Sandeep and thrashed him. Hearing his cries, his brother Prateek and their parents rushed to his room, after which the family was held hostage at gunpoint. The robbers demanded Rs 20,000 to release them and Prateek went downstairs to bring the money.
Downstairs, Prateek made a panicked call to his cousin Neeraj in secret, who also stays in the village. He requested Neeraj not to call him back and to come to his house with some villagers to help the family.
“After I gave them the money, two of them dragged me downstairs at gunpoint and asked me to show where we keep our jewellery. They thrashed me with sticks and also stabbed me in the hand with a knife,” Prateek told TOI.
The duo allegedly started ransacking the room where the jewellery was kept and asked Prateek to bring them some water. “I slipped out of the room to get water and hurriedly locked the room. One of them fired at me, but the bullet missed,” he said.
Meanwhile, relatives and neighbours started to gather in front of the house. Prateek managed to open the main gate and they entered the house.
Upon hearing the locals arrive, the robbers panicked and jumped from the terrace of the house. One of them also fired in the air to scare the villagers.
While three of them managed to flee with nearly Rs 1.3 lakh in cash and gold and silver jewellery amounting to Rs 4 lakh, the fourth was caught by the villagers. He was later identified as Sonu. Vikas and Chanchal were detained later.
“The role of Vikas and Chanchal in the crime is being investigated. A bike allegedly used by Vikas to commit the crime has been recovered,” additional DCP (Greater Noida) Vishal Pandey said.
An FIR has been lodged under sections 394 (causing hurt in committing robbery) and 411 (receiving stolen property) of the IPC.