In a daring robbery that took place at a busy market in Outer Delhi’s Rohini on Tuesday afternoon, four men barged into a jewellery showroom and made away with jewellery worth a few crores.
Malfunctioning cameras
The robbers wore no mask and it seemed that they were aware that the CCTV cameras inside the showroom were not functioning for the last few days. Police remained clueless about the identity of the robbers at the time of filing this report.
The showroom, ‘Shahi Jewellers’, is located in Rohini Sector 17 and is owned by Harish Shahi. At the time of the incident, only his son, Nikunj, and a salesgirl were in the showroom. Generally there are four employees in the showroom, said Mr. Shahi.
It was around 1 p.m when a man walked into the showroom and asked to be shown a few gold rings. He checked out a few rings before walking out on the pretext of finalising the ring size.
“The same man returned with a gun in his hand sometime later. He was accompanied by another armed man. Soon, two more men barged in,” said Mr. Shahi.
To ensure that the two victims did not resist the robbery bid, the robbers also fired a shot in the air. They then locked the salesgirl in a room and held Nikunj at gunpoint. Within the next few minutes, they cleared much of the jewellery on display inside the shop.
Before leaving, the robbers also carried away a licensed pistol belonging to the shop owner, prompting police to strongly suspect an insider’s role in the incident.
Apart from the pistol, they also took away all the jewellery worn by Nikunj, his watch, car keys, and his mobile phone. They did not take the salesgirl’s phone, but removed its battery and took it along.
A white Maruti Swift Dzire with a driver inside was waiting for them outside and they drove away in it.
Mr. Shahi said that while he was still calculating the exact worth of the stolen jewellery, he estimated that the loss was around Rs. 3-4 crore. Police said they were still waiting for the jeweller’s final word on the loss.
A robbery case has been registered and investigations have begun. On the dysfunctional CCTV cameras, Mr. Shahi said, “We were renovating the showroom and there were some issues regarding the cameras.”
