Gzb: Burglars apologise, promise to return money after robbing home at gunpoint
Ghaziabad: A day after four houses were robbed in the Madhuban-Bapudham area of Ghaziabad, a late night burglary was reported from Sector-9 in Raj Nagar area in the wee hours of Tuesday. The four masked men, who had entered the house after cutting the gate with gas cutters, held an elderly couple in the house captive on gunpoint for more than an hour as they robbed the house.
But in a dramatic turn, the robbers, while fleeing, apologised to the elderly woman, touched her feet and assured her that they will return the money in six months. The robbers told the woman that they were helpless and urgently needed the money. They also offered Rs 500 to the woman for breakfast and returned their mobile phones before fleeing.
The house is owned by Surendra Verma, a close relative of ex-mayor Ashu Verma and is a few meters away from a police post. Surendra lives with his wife Aruna while their three daughters are settled abroad. The elderly couple lives on the ground floor and a family lives on rent on the first floor and in another room, their home guard lives with his wife.
As per the family, around 3 am on Tuesday, Aruna heard some noise from the other room and when she switched the light on, she spotted four masked men rummaging through her almirah. They grabbed her and held her at knifepoint and warned her not to shout. The accused asked her to handover the money and snatched away their mobile phones.
"They took us on gunpoint and asked us to give Rs 2 lakhs. When I denied, they insisted me saying that they need money for operation. All the four men were in their twenties and thirties and wearing jeans and t-shirt. Their way of talking was not resembling that of criminals but were looking more as drug addicts," the elderly woman said.
For nearly an hour, the miscreants kept the elderly couple captive and around 4 am, they wrapped up nearly Rs 1.10 lakh in cash and jewellery worth Rs 2 lakh and fled. "While fleeing, one of the assailants came back to me, apologised to me and touched my feet. He said that he is helpless and needed money which they would return in six months. They later returned our mobile phones and fled away. I immediately called my relatives for help," she added.
Anshu Jain, Circle officer of Kavi Nagar area said that an FIR has been registered in the case and efforts are being made to identify the culprits. "Investigations showed that the accused also took DVR of CCTV camera at the house. They entered the house after cutting lock of side door. All the four men were wearing mask but we are scanning CCTV footage of the area to identify them and further investigations are underway," the officer said.
