Published: February 18, 2020 11:55:17 am
Commissioner of Police Rakesh Agrawal at the office of IIFL Gold Loan Finance at Gill road in Ludhiana. (Express Photo: Gurmeet Singh)
Five men, including one with a pistol, looted 30 kg gold ornaments worth crores and Rs 3 lakh in cash, from IIFL Gold Loan branch office on Gill road of Ludhiana on Monday.
The CCTV cameras installed outside the building, captured four men coming out with bags filled with gold ornaments while fifth person kept sitting in the car outside.
The daylight robbery happened days after four armed had looted 2 kg gold from V K Jewelers in Ghumar Mandi of Ludhiana on January 29. The case remains unsolved.
Police said that four men, of whom one was flashing a pistol and three others had sharp-edged weapons, barged into IIFL Gold Loan branch office on Gill road around 10 am. They then asked for the locker keys from the manager Harpreet Singh, at gunpoint and looted gold ornaments, later estimated to be at least of 30 kg and Rs 3 lakh in cash. They packed the gold in four bags and then ran outside where fifth accused was waiting for them in Maruti Ciaz vehicle.
Before leaving, they locked the office from outside and also took away the Digital Video Recorder (DVR) of CCTVs installed inside. Then the manager Harpreet Singh raised an alarm and police was called. Police said that the gold loan branch had no security guard deployed at the entrance.
There were five other employees present inside at the time of the incident but there were no customers. Ludhiana police commissioner Rakesh Agrawal said that entire loot was executed within twenty minutes by four men who barged inside and one kept waiting outside in the car. Manager Harpreet Singh told police that he had reached office around 9.35 am and minutes later, four robbers barged in. The robbers overpowered them and threatened them to hand over keys of the locker where they kept mortgaged gold ornaments.
Inspector Amarjit Singh, SHO division number 6 police station, said that an FIR was registered against five unidentified persons under the Sections 392, 342, 148, 149 of IPC and Section 25 of the Arms Act on the statement of Harpreet Singh. “All of them were wearing hoodies and their faces aren’t clear in CCTV clips. They have run away with at least 30 kg gold worth crores,” he added.
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