Couple alerts cops, but robbers strike again in 4 hours

TNN / Jul 20, 2018, 06:08 IST

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Couple alerts cops, but robbers strike again in 4 hours

Police didn’t search for suspects in nearby areas

JAIPUR: Despite an elderly couple informing the police about a robbery attempt at their home at 11 pm, the robbery could not be foiled as cops did not actively pursued the couple's complaint.
The night patrolling has long been the city police's vulnerable spot, Krishna Kant Gupta, the victim of Thursday's robbery told TOI that two youths had trespassed into his porch; his wife had spotted the suspects from the kitchen window.

But the duo fled when he confronted them for trespassing into the house without ringing the bell.

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Rampant incidents of cars parked outside houses being set ablaze, chain snatching and goons thrashing people in public view in the past few months depict a sorry state of affairs as far as the law and order situation of the city is concerned. But if these were not enough, safety of denizens touched a new low on Thursday when robbers struck at the same place twice within four hours, that too after police had been alerted by the victims. This comes at a time when the police boasts of a state-of-the-art control room, special patrolling for senior citizens and a range of new surveillance softwares. This speaks of sheer apathy. It is high time that the basic safety of citizens is first taken care of by the cops, setting the foundation for a better policing in the city.

"The suspects tried to fool me by saying they were looking for some Ram Singh, but I reprimanded them," he said. "At 11pm, I called up the police control room, a PCR van also came to the area. The police vehicles did a few rounds but left soon after," Gupta said. Barely four hours after Gupta had alerted cops; robbers made a successful second attempt and held the couple hostage.

Victim Krishna Kant Gupta at his residence in Gopalpura on Thursday
"Ideally the 11pm call should have been a wakeup call for the police. But the PCR team did not take the matter seriously. They wandered around for a while but did not actively pursue the tip off," said Sandeep, a resident of the area.

People interact outside the house of Krishna Kant Gupta at Gopalpura on Thursday. A sniffer dog at work
The 10B scheme is located at the heart of the city in Gopalpura, same place where the city mayor and a former director

general of police live, yet the Shipra Path police did not search for suspects in the nearby areas.
Rajasthan home minister Gulab Chand Kataria himself had raised the issue of poor night patrolling during his last meeting with the state police's top leadership at Police Headquarters (PHQ) last month.
"It is not true, our police teams searched the area but we did not find anybody. The city has expanded widely in past few years and we always try to make each street safer," an official said. Further investigations are continuing.

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