Duo involved in Sewri robbery held

The two persons who robbed a 27-year-old-woman at knife point at her Sewri residence on Monday, have been arrested by Kalachowkie police. The duo had entered the family's flat on the 5th floor in a 24-storey building, asking for water. They then robbed her by threatening to kill her three-year-old daughter.

The duo has been identified as Sion resident Avdhesh Vishwakarma, 23, and Powai resident Ajay Hawale, 21.

According to police, complainant Ajmira Bibi Khan, lives along with her husband Alamgir Khan and three-year-old daughter in Swan Mill Co-Operative Housing Society in Sewree. Ajmira's husband is a goldsmith working at Zaveri Bazaar.

"On Monday afternoon, Ajmira's husband had left for work. Around 3.30 pm, someone knocked at their door. On opening the door, she saw two men in their 20s; they were asking for water. Thinking that they might be labourers working in the nearby flat, Ajmira went inside the kitchen to fetch water for them," said a police officer.

He added, as soon as Ajmira went inside the kitchen, one of them followed her and caught her by the neck. The other picked up a knife from the kitchen and ran towards her bedroom where Ajmira's daughter was.

"One of the accused held a knife at her daughter's neck and warned her not to raise an alarm. They asked Ajmira to show where the gold and cash is kept, after which they decamped with the cash, cellphone and jewellery worth Rs 1.54 lakh. While the duo was busy looting the house, Ajmira quickly hid herself and her daughter in the bathroom and locked the door from inside," said the officer.

About 30 minutes later, when Ajmira could not here any noise, she finally came out, police said.

"Ajmira found the door locked from outside and started banging on it. Hearing this, a labourer who was working on the 15th floor, opened the latch. She informed the police about the robbery. The suspects identity was revealed through a CCTV footage. We had also received specific information that the suspects were at Barkat Ali Naka at Wadala and were planning to flee Mumbai. We managed to apprehend them on Wednesday and recovered some of the stolen valuables," said the officer.