Lucknow: Burglars party on booze before bagging Rs 23 lakh booty at dead army doctor’s home

LUCKNOW: Burglars with perhaps a hedonistic bent of mind partied on expensive liquor and dry fruits before cleaning out cash and jewellery worth Rs 23 lakh from a house in Aashiana.
The break-in came to light on August 8 when the owners returned after a two-week vacation. An FIR was lodged against an unspecified number of unidentified persons on August 9.Police are looking for clues in CCTV camera footage.
The two-storey house belongs to colonel (retired) Pooran Chandra Sharma, a doctor in the Army Medical Corps who passed away on July 10. His wife Kamini Sharma (64) and daughters Meenakshi (34) and Nupur
(30) were away visiting his son, Dr Mohit Sharma (40), in Gurugram. The women had left town on July 29 and returned last Thursday to find the lower half of the main door cut open. Inside, all the rooms — including the puja chamber — were ransacked and valuables missing.
Dry fruits littered the floor while three empty bottles of expensive whiskey, brandy and gin stood on the table along with used glasses — all taken out from the mini-bar once maintained by the retired colonel. “The intruders had also taken out fruit juice and ice cubes from the fridge in our kitchen. It shows they were professionals who had done a recce and were aware of our absence,” Nupur said. The family said the burglars had taken away Rs 3 lakh in cash, besides jewellery, designer clothes and shoes worth Rs 20 lakh. “We found our car and scooter keys on the corridor of the house, which means they tried to take the vehicles away too, but perhaps dropped the idea when they failed to open the main gate,” Nupur said. The family has expressed disappointment with the pace of investigation. “Though we have given a list of suspects, no concrete action has been taken yet,” Nupur added.
Aashiana SHO Vishwajeet Singh said they were scanning CCTV camera footage available for the period when family was out of station. “The burglary seems to have been carried out by 3-5 persons,” the officer said.