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Policemen at Sanjay Kumar Mittal’s house in Dhanbad on Friday. Picture by Gautam Dey
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An armed gang struck at the house of a coal trader at Mahavir Sansthan Colony under Dhanbad’s Bank More police station late on Thursday night and decamped with cash and jewellery worth Rs 8 lakh.
The men — around 10 in number and all wearing masks — targeted the ground floor room of house owner Sanjay Kumar Mittal’s sexagenarian father while he and his family slept on the first floor. The burglars also manhandled 68-year-old Chiman Lal Mittal when he resisted them, besides snacking on bhujia during the three-hour operation.
According to Sanjay, the burglars entered his two-storey house by breaking open the lock on the main gate and the grille around 12.30am. They headed straight to Chiman Lal’s room where they held him and his wife Shyama Devi at gunpoint.
The men then demanded keys to the cupboard from Chiman Lal, who tried to protest but was trussed up with ropes and huddled into the bathroom. After getting the keys, the burglars went on a looting spree, cleaning out two cupboards. They pocketed Rs 60,000 in ca-sh and jewellery worth Rs 7.4 lakh, including gold chains, finger rings, earrings, armlets et al.
“The burglars were speaking to each other in a local dialect. They carried out the entire operation with ease and even finished the bhujia kept in the house. They left around 3.30pm,” Chiman Lal said.
The 68-year-old added that as it was raining, Sanjay, who was sleeping on the first floor with wife Kiran, sons Harsh and Umang and daughter Nandini, could not hear anything.
“At one time, the men even decided to go to the first floor but dropped the idea and fled with the booty,” Chiman Lal added.
Deputy superintendent of police Sanjay Ranjan, who also visited the house, said: “From what we have gathered, it seems that the criminals were locals. We have started raids at suspected locations and will soon arrest them.”
Dhanbad MP P.N. Singh also visited the family and assured them that pressure would be mounted on the police to arrest the gang and recover the stolen items along with the cash.
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