Patna: Jewellery worth Rs 4 crore looted from showroom

PATNA: Unidentified armed criminals looted gold and diamond jewellery worth above Rs4 crore from a showroom after taking its owner and staff hostage at gunpoint in the state capital. The incident took place between 1pm and 1.30pm on the busy Ashiana-Digha road under the Rajeev Nagar police station area. Showroom owner Ratnesh Sharma and his private security guard Deepu Lal sustained head injuries as the criminals hit them hard with pistol butts.
This is the second such incident in Patna within 10 days. Criminals had looted jewellery worth around Rs15 lakh from a showroom at Aparna Bank Colony under the Rupaspur police station area on June 12.
Patna zonal IG Sunil Kumar, DIG (central range) Rajesh Kumar and SSP Garima Malik along with several DSPs and SHOS rushed to the spot, but the police till late evening failed to get any clue about the over a dozen criminals involved in the dacoity. They had also damaged the CCTV cameras inside the showroom and taken away the digital video recorder (DVR).
Sexagenarian Sharma said the criminals forced the staff to open the iron safe in which more jewellery were kept. “They had brought an airbag which was too small to contain all the jewellery. Then they pulled out plastic carry bags from the airbag and also took bags kept in the shop to fill the booty. Criminals left behind silver ornaments only. The estimated cost of looted jewellery is worth around Rs4 crore,” Sharma told TOI. He also said the criminals assured him not to harm his grandson present there and had started screaming after the chaos.
Sharma said two criminals first entered the shop and demanded some jewellery. “Later, two more came in. After that, one of them made a phone call and at least eight more criminals barged into the showroom and took everyone hostage at gunpoint. Each criminal had two pistols in their hands. They grabbed the celllphones and keys before leaving the showroom,” he said, adding the criminals remained inside for at least 20 minutes. He said neither he nor his staff members went out for at least a couple of minutes out of fear.
When asked, IG Kumar said criminals must have conducted recce of the showroom. “Police have received some leads. Forensic experts have also collected fingerprints of the suspects from the spot,” he added.
Shopkeepers around the showroom did not have any inkling about the dacoity as no movement is visible outside the showroom in the CCTV cameras installed nearby.