Intruders rob Sarojinigagar family of Rs 5.5 lakh

LUCKNOW: Four miscreants barged into the house of a lekhpal (revenue department employee) on Friday and robbed valuables worth close to Rs 5.50 lakh at gunpoint in Sarojininagar’s Vishnulok colony.
On the intervening night of Thursday and Friday, Anand Tiwari posted in Sadar tehsil was sleeping in his bedroom along with family members that included wife Archana, daughter Pratishtha and son Ayush.Tiwari’s house is located at a distance of less than 500 metres from Purani Chungi at Kanpur Road. Four armed men with covered faces gained entry inside the house around 2.30am. Two of them barged inside the couple’s bedroom and pointed a gun at Tiwari’s temple. The other two tied the hands of the family members and gagged their mouth. A duo then tried to break open the almirah kept in the children’s room. When they failed to do so, they asked Pratishtha to hand over the keys.
The miscreants then robbed jewelry items worth about Rs 5 lakh and Rs 40,000 that was kept inside the almirah at gunpoint before escaping. They also took away a licensed gun belonging to Tiwari and some mobile phones.
Later on, after freeing himself, Tiwari made a call at police control room through his daughter’s mobile phone and raised an alarm. Local police was alerted and examined the spot for clues. Initially, the local police registered a case under simple theft charges which was later changed into robbery. In charge of Sarojininagar police station sub-inspector Ram Naresh Yadav said that he acted as per Tiwari’s complaint and when he pointed out that assailants had forcibly entered the house, robbery charges were pressed instead of theft against unidentified group.
Poor policing at fore: It was the second daring incident reported from Sarojininagar area within two months. Earlier, family of a pharmacist staying in Janakpuri Colony was robbed at gunpoint on the intervening night of October 30 and 31. While Janakpuri Colony is located in a relatively sparsely populated area, this time, criminals struck a densely populated stretch.