11 February 2008

Goons raid Salt Lake flat, loot jewellery

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Yet another case of robbery in Salt Lake, four armed youths broke into a house in Baisakhi Abasan on Sunday night, tied up a woman and looted cash and jewellery worth Rs 2 lakh.

The four armed goons raided the house of Pranab Dey, a promoter, around 9.30 pm when he was out for work. The robbers asked his wife Debi to open the door, saying they had come to meet her husband to discuss something important. But Debi was reluctant to open the door as she did not know them. When the four failed to convince her, one of them sprayed chilly powder into her eyes. As she was temporarily blinded, the four barged into the house.

The gang then tied up Debi with a rope and gagged her. They also beat up her physically challenged son. The domestic help engaged by the Deys was also not present in the house when the incident occurred. She had just left for the local market to shop for Saraswati Puja. The robbers then opened the almirah, looted the cash and jewellery and left.

Neighbours complained that this was not the first time such an incident had occurred in the housing complex. They said robberies are frequent in
the locality and numerous attempts to draw the police’s attention have gone in vain.

The area falls under the Bidhannagar east police station. Police suspect the gang had been tracking Dey’s movement and came to his house when he was not around.

“Our officers have reached the place and we are trying to nab the criminals as soon as possible,” said a police officer.

This is the third incident of robbery in Salt Lake in the past four weeks. In January, burglars broke into the house of a 72-year-old widow and robbed her. Last week, a gang of robbers broke open the door of a flat in BB Block and looted jewellery worth nearly Rs 15 lakh.