Rashbehari robbery solved, 5 including servant arrested

Kolkata: The Gariahat police station cracked the case of a daring daylight robbery at the residence of two elderly women at Rashbehari Avenue on the morning of Panchami and arrested five persons including a taxi driver in this connection. The tip-off to the gang that the two aged ladies lived alone in the house was provided by the servant who was involved in fetching water for the family.

Two sisters Mahua Ghosh and Rita Ghosh, both in their 70's, were tied with a rope after being threatened with knives as the five-member gang looted cash worth Rs 23,000, three small bags full of coins and three gold bangles from the almirah.

"As we took over the investigation, our needle of suspicion was upon the servant Arpan Shikari as the gang of five involved in the operation had entered the house immediately after he left fetching water for the family. We traced his hideout at Nabagram in Baruipur and apprehended him," Oindrila Roy, Assistant Commissioner of police (South) said.

The accused who was working at the residence for six years was grilled and accordingly the other four accused Paresh Halder, Suraj Singh, Rajesh Roy, and Sunil Kumar were arrested.

Police sources informed that Paresh Halder is a resident of Baruipur and has previous criminal antecedents. He was earlier arrested in a case of bank robbery by Jadavpur police in the year 2005.

Suraj Singh and Sunil Kumar are both residents of West Port area and were arrested with the assistance of Kolkata Police's detective department. The other accused Rajesh Roy, a resident of Behala, Silpara is the cab driver whose vehicle was hired for the entire operation.

The police have also managed to recover a part of the stolen articles. "We will take the accused under custody and grill them for further recovery," a senior officer of Gariahat police station said.