Gunmen hold toddler at gunpoint; rob bungalow

Ghaziabad: Around five to six armed assailants barged into a posh bungalow in Ghaziabad's Kavi Nagar area on the intervening night of Monday and Tuesday and robbed the home while holding an eight-month-old at gunpoint. Police here have said that the robbers made away with jewellery and cash worth lakhs, as per the family's complaint.

Cops said the robbers entered the home after cutting the society gate with cutters while one of them climbed a wall.

The accused also used cutters to break through the main gate of the house and entered through the kitchen window by removing the grills with tools they were carrying.

Family members told police that the assailants had first gone to a room where the women of the family along with an eight-month-old infant were sleeping. Hearing the noises, a woman woke up and started screaming.

The assailants first said they were from a COVID-19 department of the district administration and that they were there to conduct Coronavirus tests for the family members.

One of the assailants then snatched the infant from the woman's hands and threatened to kill the baby if they made any noise. Soon, the men in the family came out of their room and tried to grab the criminals but they assaulted them and tied their hands with a rope.

The assailants held the infant at gunpoint while they robbed the family of their belongings for two and a half hours. They fled from the house around 4 am.

Kalanidhi Naithani, Senior Superintendent of Ghaziabad police said that an FIR had been lodged against one of the close relatives of the family including one Deepak and his six associates under the section of 395 (Punishment for dacoity) and 397 (Robbery, or dacoity, with attempt to cause death or grievous hurt)

of IPC.