Criminals on Diwali spree in Ahmedabad, robberies up

AHMEDABAD: Four bike-borne robbers struck an angadia firm employee, Mukesh Patel, 45, near Paldi bus station and made off with gold and diamond jewellery worth Rs 14.37 lakh, on Wednesday early morning. By noon reports came in of a senior citizen having been robbed of Rs 5 lakh in Sarkhej.
The robbery in Paldi was so well coordinated that the four robbers zoomed away towards Sardar Bridge even before those present at the spot could make out that a robbery had taken place.
With three murders, and an armed robbery at a Prahladnagar bungalow still a mystery - the cops are facing a tough time as criminals seem to have a free run of the city. Police have started distributing a list of do's and don'ts to citizens, who are leaving their homes locked behind.
According to complaint lodged by Patel, the Paldi robbery victim, he was dropped at Paldi bus station in a company vehicle by driver Baldev Desai and two others, Raman Patel and Gangaram Patel at about 6 am in the morning. Patl works with Madhavlal Maganlal Angadia firm at Ratan Pol.
"Patel, who carries parcels to Mehsana, Unjha, Palanpur and Deesa regularly was sitting on a bench waiting for the bus. Two persons aged between 35 to 40 years approached him. One of them slapped Patel and the other threatened him with a knife," said a senior police official. Sources said, frightened by the sudden assault, Patel turned around in an effort to save himself and fell on a stone injuring himself on the forehead. Meanwhile the assailants snatched two bags from Patel, one containing the jewellery and the other boxes of sweets and fled on their bike.
"Eyewitnesses said there were four robbers who came on two bikes. They fled towards Sadar Bridge. CCTV footage shows the robbers then turned towards Behrampura and after taking the road towards Dani Limda they headed towards Pirana dumping yard road," said a police official.
Even as the cops started probing the Paldi case, two bike-borne robbers struck again at noon. They intercepted Bhanvarlal Chandak, 65, when he was parking his scooter near his house, and on the pretext of asking about a doctor's address, they decamped with Rs 5 lakh from the glove box of his scooter.
Sarkhej police officials said Chandak's son Ghanshyam runs a scrap business at Jalaram Estate in Sarkhej. "Both father and son had gone to an angadia Firm at Milan complex in Sarkhej to collect Rs 5 lakh sent by a customer. Ghanshyam got down at his shop, while Chandak returned home," said a police official.
Joint commissioner of police, Sector 1, Piyush Patel, said they are probing both the crimes and will nab the culprits soon.