Chandana Das, 42, was allegedly pushed off a third-floor balcony by a gang that raided her Kanchrapara home early on Thursday. As she bled to death on the street below, the goons went on a looting spree.

By the time the gang of 15 was done, the Das household was poorer by Rs 20 lakh in cash and jewellery. And homemaker Chandana was dead — for having dared to try and raise the alarm.

The loot-and-murder saga began around 2.45am and continued till 4.30am, barely five minutes away from Bijpur police station, on the northern fringes of the city

The goons had targeted the house of Bimal Das, which has the family’s jewellery shop on the ground floor. Two floors were under repair, while the family of four — Bimal, Chandana, daughter Barsha, 15, and son Bidyut, 11 — was on the third floor.

The house at Gandhi More, in Kanchrapara, is surrounded by a hawker’s market, but the area was deserted when the goons struck.

“A gang of armed criminals entered the residence of jewellery shop-owner Bimal Das early on Thursday and looted cash and jewellery. His wife Chandana Das was killed in a fall from the balcony of the third floor,” said Supratim Sarkar, the superintendent of police (North 24-Parganas).

Family members later recounted how Chandana had been grabbed by the goons after she managed to flee to the verandah to alert their neighbours. In the scuffle that followed, she was pushed over the edge.

Around 2.45am, a mini army of goons surrounded the Das home and then split up into groups. Taking advantage of the bamboo scaffolding erected to carry out repairs, five of the criminals climbed up, broke open the collapsible gate and entered the third floor.

They overpowered two domestic helps and tied them up to enter the Das home.

Bimal was forced to part with the keys to his jewellery shop on the ground floor.

Some of the goons then descended to the ground floor, took the two security guards by surprise, tied them up and wiped out the shop.

All this while some other gang members were keeping their country-made revolvers trained on the family. Around 3.35am, the goons who had looted the shop were back, this time to demand the keys to the almirahs and safety vaults in the house.

“When I resisted, I was roughed up and threatened with dire consequences. My son Bidyut was also beaten up up,” said Bimal.

Desperate to save her husband and children, Chandana struggled to raise the alarm. She managed to give the goons the slip and rush out to the verandah. It was close to 4am.

But before she could shout for help, some goons grabbed her from behind. One clamped a hand over her mouth, while others tried to drag her back. In the ensuing skirmish, the 42-year-old woman was pushed close to the edge of the balcony. Then, she toppled over and fell to the street below.

Realising that Chandana had been pushed off the balcony, her family went into shock. The goons went on looting. “Please let us go and save our mother,” her children cried.

By the time the goons finally left at 4.25am, it was too late. Chandana had bled to death on the street in front of her home.

Traders in the area observed a 12-hour bandh in the area, protesting police inaction. Till late on Thursday, no arrest had been made.