Masked men rob Sundernagar elderly couple of jewellery, cash

Three masked armed assailants carried out a daring robbery in the residential area of Naya Bazaar, Sundernagar, yesterday. The miscreants held a former principal and his wife hostage at gunpoint, looting jewellery and cash worth lakhs. The brazen act took place in broad daylight, just 300 meters from BSL Colony Police Station, but neither the family members residing in the same building nor the neighbours noticed anything amiss.

The crime came to light around 2 pm. According to sources, the perpetrators spoke in a dialect resembling that of Uttar Pradesh natives.

Naresh Bhatt, a retired principal and resident of Naya Bazaar, reported to the police that at around 2 pm on Sunday, three individuals entered his home. Threatening him with a country-made pistol and sharp weapons, they tied him and his wife with household clothes before looting gold and silver jewellery along with cash worth lakhs. The criminals executed the crime in just 20 minutes, locking the couple inside a room before fleeing on a motorcycle.

After considerable effort, the couple managed to free themselves and alerted their family members. Further investigation revealed that the motorcycle used in the crime had been stolen from Mandi and the suspects were reportedly headed towards Punjab.

Upon receiving the information, DSP Bharat Bhushan and the BSL Colony Police Station team promptly reached the scene and began investigation. SP Mandi Sakshi Verma stated that the police are examining CCTV footage from the surrounding area and assessing various angles of the case, including the total value of the robbed items.

Notably, a similar crime occurred on March 22 in Pulgharat, Mandi district, where two bike-borne assailants shot at an eatery owner before stealing Rs 6,000 from the cash box, an LED and a CCTV DVR. Police later arrested two brothers, Azam (20) and Azmal (24), of Muzaffarnagar, Uttar Pradesh, recovering a country-made pistol and cartridges from their rented residence.