Victim A Criminal Too, Say Police
Lucknow: Five masked gunmen stormed into the house-cum-utensil shop of a Barabanki-based criminal-turned-businessman before holding him and his two sisters hostage for hours, ransacking the property and fleeing with valuables worth lakhs of rupees on Monday late night.
Police said the dacoity took place at the residence of Shiv Kumar Nigam (40) in Tikaitganj town market area of Barabanki.
Nigam, who has criminal cases lodged against him, said that like any other day his employees, Ajay Nigam and Anshu Yadav, went to their homes after closing the shop around 9pm.
“Around same time, a young man pretending to be a customer came to buy a vessel. Soon after, four other masked men entered the shop and forced the closure of the shop from inside. They took me and my sisters Lakshmi (45) and Bitto (43) at gunpoint. Later, they took my sister and me to a room and tied us with a rope and looted all the jewellery and cash,” Nigam told police.
They further rummaged through the two floors of the residence for over three hours before escaping in an SUV with the booty.
The CCTV footage from a neighbour’s house captured a grey SUV near the scene around 2am. The neighbour, witnessing the armed men, alerted others who rushed to find Nigam and his sisters tied up. They then notified the police.
Additional SP, Barabanki, CN Sinha, confirmed the dacoity.
Sinha said that Nigam has claimed that the stolen valuables included the jewellery mortgaged from 35 people.
He added that police have secured CCTV footage and formed four teams to investigate the case.
