Finance company’s office in Dunlop looted by robbers

Four bike-borne robbers looted gold bars, jewelleries and other valuables from a non-banking financial company’s office at North 24 Parganas’ Dunlop on Friday morning.

Police started an investigation. The investigators could not ascertain the quantity of gold that was looted from the officer. The value of the gold could be around several crores.

However, the investigators have also found that robbers struck at the office of the same company at Ulhasnagar branch in Thane recently and reportedly made away with 32 kg of gold.

The local police who were investigating the crime said the robbers dug a three-foot long tunnel from a water-pump room located under the staircase of the building housing the branch to get to the vault where the gold was stored.

“We suspect that both these incidents have a link. We have contacted to the Thane police. They could send a team here for investigation,” said an investigating officer.

“The modus operandi was interesting. The robbers who covered their faces with black cloths pointed their gun at the security personnel. They painted the CCTV camera with black ink. Then they poured the gold in a sack and decamped from there,” the officer said. Bengal Criminal Investigation Department has started investigation.

The Thane police suspect that the burglary might have taken place between Sunday and Monday. The CCTV cameras were painted, indicating a strong possibility of this being an insider job.

The branch’s watchman, who is from Nepal who is missing, and his cousin, the previous watchman at the branch, are reported to be among the prime suspects.

“Here in Dunlop, we are interrogating the security guards. Some of them are making dubious comments,” said an investigating officer.

In a separate incident, Burdwan police arrested a person with three gold bars. The value of those gold bars would be around Rs 1 crore. “Baburam, the arrested person was actually resident of Uttar Pradesh. We are interrogating him,” said a police officer.