Chandigarh, May 27
It was 2 am on Wednesday and Lalit Behl (33) was dozing in the car. He had got down from an international flight at Delhi and his driver for the past six years, Narinder, was driving the Honda Civic at a steady speed of over 100 km and in another hour or so, he hoped to reach home in Chandigarh. A few sharp swerves and sudden application of the brakes jolted him awake.
He found an Innova trying to nudge his car. Narinder was hemmed by a slow moving truck in front and a ditch to his left. The Innova was bearing down from the right and as he was forced to slow down, the Innova overtook him and forced him to stop. Before they could realise what was happening, a few young men got into the car brandishing guns and held Behl and his driver hostage before driving to Chandigarh.
The robbers, all clean shaven and in their early twenties, collected the cash he was carrying and other valuables. But this did not clearly satisfy them.
They were looking at a booty of Rs 20 lakh, they told Behl, abusing him in Haryanvi accent. But they did not cause any physical harm to Behl or his driver. They reached Behl’s residence in Sector 33 around 3 am.
For the next two hours they ransacked the house. They had already collected the mobile phones and destroyed the sim cards. The landlines were disconnected as they moved from one room to another with Behl’s wife, collecting foreign and Indian currency, gold ornaments and other valuables. The businessman estimated the loss at Rs. 10 lakh besides the car which the highway robbers took away.
The robbers left Behl’s 92-year-old father, who was asleep in his room, alone. But by then they had tied up the inmates and locked them in one of the bathrooms. One of them managed to loosen the rope and free her arms. By the time they managed to come out and raise the alarm, it was already 6 am on Wednesday and an hour had passed after the robbers left. Till Wednesday evening, police had not been able to trace Behl’s car or intercept the robbers.
This is the second such highway robbery in as many months on the busy Delhi-Chandigarh highway. Earlier, a Panchkula resident had been similarly
waylaid.
