Bid to loot doctor’s home fails

An unsuccessful robbery attempt was made at the house of Dr Vijay Bhatiya at Arman Bungalows behind Rajpath Club on Tuesday afternoon. Dr Bhatiya is the head of the department of plastic surgery at VS Hospital.

The doctor’s father, Yashpal Bhatiya, a retired engineer, was injured in the incident, which took place at 1.45 pm when Dr Bhatiya, his wife Parul and son Nishant were away.  The cook Shambhu had also left after completing his work.

Only Yashpal Bhatiya, 80, and his wife Rajkumari, 75, were present in the house. According to police sources, three unidentified persons reached the house on a motor bike and entered from the back door.

Two of them were holding pistols while another had a knife. When Rajkumari tried to raise an alarm, the intruders gagged her and asked for the keys to the cupboard. They also managed to silence Yashpal by hitting him with a pistol on the head, which rendered him unconscious.

Two of the criminals went upstairs looking for the keys, but they could not find the same. Even as they tried to locate the valuables Dr Bhatiya’s wife returned and rang the calling bell. Fearing that they might be caught, the trio hastily fled from the house. Later, Yashpal was taken to VS Hospital for treatment. No valuables were stolen.

Vastrapur police later reached the house and began investigations. According to the victims, the trio appeared to be in the age group of 18 to 20 years and they spoke Hindi.