Two injured in three robberies in capital

NEW DELHI - In three separate incidents of crime in the capital Friday, all in less than six hours, two men, including an employee of a well-known jewellery shop in South Extension, were injured as unidentified robbers fled with the cash bags, totalling Rs.13.85 lakh, they were carrying.

The first incident was reported at Sector 7 in Dwarka at around 10 a.m. According to police, two men, who were roaming near a Kotak Mahindra ATM in Rampal Chowk, Sector 7 in Dwarka, shot at a security guard.

“The 50-year-old guard, Amar Pal, along with a driver and two other people, deployed in the cash van had left Gurgaon for Dwarka at around 8 a.m. and reached 10 a.m. The two men with Amar Pal entered the ATM with the cash bag to deposit it in the machine,” said a police officer.

When Amar Pal noticed a man trying to enter the ATM, he asked him to stop. At this, the man’s associate arrived there. One of them, then whipped out a pistol and fired a shot at the guard’s head and fled without taking any money.

The bullet grazed a side of the victim’s head. Hearing the shot, the driver and the other two helpers in the ATM premises rushed to help and called the police. “The victim was rushed to Deen Dayal Upadhaya hospital and he is now out of danger,” said the police officer.

Police are waiting for the CCTV footage. “We have also rounded up several history sheeters,” added the officer.

The second incident took place in south Delhi’s South Extension Part I around 11.45 a.m. Three unidentified men shot at a 29-year-old man, an employee of a prominent jewellery shop, Sehgal Jewellers, who was carrying Rs.12 lakh to deposit it in the bank and fled with the cash.

“When the victim, Sitaram, was on his way to Union Bank of India to deposit Rs.12 lakh in D Block in South Extension Part 1 busy market, three miscreants already standing outside the bank, first tried to snatch the bag at gun point. When the victim refused they shot him in the abdomen and escaped in two-wheelers with the bag containing cash,” said a police officer.

While he lay bleeding, he called the shop owner Dinesh Shegal who then took him to the Safdarjung Hospital. “We also informed the police,” said Pradeep Kapoor, manager of Sehgal Jewellers said.

The victim lived in Kotla Mubarakpur with his wife and two children.

Police said they are probing the matter. The victim’s condition is stated to be critical.

The third incident took place in west Delhi in Vikaspuri area at around 3.45 p.m.

Two-bike borne men waylaid a 37-year-old businessman just 200 metres away from the HDFC bank in Vikaspuri area, struck him on the face and fled with a bag containing Rs.1.85 lakh.

The victim, Prem Narayan, an egg tray manufacturer, had come to the bank in D block to withdraw cash. After withdrawing Rs.1.85 lakh, he began to drive away in his bike when the men accosted him. “Two bike-borne men stopped his path, when Narayan fell on the ground with his bike, they hit him on the face and fled with the bag containing cash,” said a police officer.