5 rob former diamond merchant, arrested

The Matunga police on Sunday arrested a gang of five for robbing a former diamond merchant. They had allegedly entered the flat and threatened his daughter and maidservant with revolvers and choppers.

They allegedly decamped with cash, laptop and imitation jewellery collectively worth more than Rs2 lakh.

“They were booked for dacoity and under the arms act,” said ACP (Matunga division) Dilip Suryawanshi. He said that they are yet to recover the stolen goods and arms from them. All the five are history sheeters and involved in cases of murder, attempt to murder, dacoity, robbery and theft, added Suryawanshi.

The incident took place on July 5 around 2.15pm. Darshana Shah, a teacher, and the maid servant Suchita Bachim, 18, were in the third-floor flat of Shanti Niwas on Deodhar Road. Her father Nikhil, 73 and mother Meena, 63, had left for Pune the same morning.

One of the five, posing as a courier boy, approached the flat first. When Darshana opened the door to collect the parcel from him, he pushed her inside and gagged her. Four more entered and whipped out revolvers, choppers and bamboo sticks.

They locked the two in a bedroom and fled with two gold chains, a bracelet, Rs5,000 and a laptop collectively valued at Rs2.06 lakh.

After five minutes, Darshana and Bachim managed to scream for help. The neighbours rushed to the flat, rescued them and called the police.