Four armed men broke into a first-floor house in Palam Vihar's Sector 23 in Gurgaon during the early hours of Thursday after disabling a CCTV camera. They held a family at knifepoint and fled with jewellery, cash, and valuables worth approximately Rs 8-9 lakh.
Robbery Details
The incident took place between 2.20am and 3.15am at the residence of Vikas Jain (48), a product compliance consultant and son of a retired Army colonel. The gang approached from the rear, using a neighbouring house beside a vacant plot to reach the balcony. CCTV footage showed one of the men conducting a quick survey around 2.20am before pushing a rear camera towards a wall.
Jain stated, "One of them turned the CCTV camera towards a wall and began cutting the iron grille. They spent nearly 40 minutes at it. The room they entered through was vacant, and the AC noise made the cutting sound feeble."
After slicing through the grille of a rear window, the men climbed into an unoccupied room and moved deeper into the flat. They had handkerchiefs tied across their faces and were dressed in T-shirts, lowers, and sports shoes. They carried a knife, screwdrivers, and pipe wrenches, according to police.
Hostage Situation
The intruders first reached the room where Jain's wife (45) and their daughter (11) were asleep. "They held my wife and daughter at knifepoint and forced my wife to remove the jewellery she was wearing. They kept demanding to know where other valuables were kept," Jain said.
The gang took diamond earrings, rings, bangles, and a nose pin from her, then rummaged through the house and found more jewellery stored in pouches in a dressing table. Police reported the stolen items included five diamond rings, four sets of diamond earrings, a gold mangalsutra, three gold chains, and other ornaments. They also took about Rs 5,000 from Jain's wallet, cash from a ladies' purse, and some identity documents.
Jain, who was asleep in another room, was woken up and forced into the room where his wife and daughter were being held. The robbers kept all three under watch as they continued searching.
"They looked disappointed and kept asking where more valuables were kept. We told them we are a small, non-business family. These ornaments were our savings over decades," Jain added.
Building Layout
The building has three storeys: Jain's first-floor home, his parents on the ground floor, and a senior citizen tenant on the second floor. The third floor is vacant. Despite spending over an hour on the premises, the gang targeted only Jain's floor and did not enter the other portions. Inside the same building, Jain's elderly parents on the ground floor and the tenant upstairs did not realise a robbery was unfolding.
Before leaving, the robbers snatched the family's mobile phones to prevent them from calling for help and tossed them onto the rear balcony.
Police Response
Twice during the ordeal, a PCR vehicle passed the stretch. Jain said, "We heard the police siren twice close to our house. We couldn't raise an alarm because they were armed and threatened to hurt our daughter. Minutes after they left, I ran outside, but they had fled."
The robbers also warned the family against reporting the crime. "They threatened my daughter and told us that if we informed the police, they would come back," Jain added.
The family called the police emergency helpline around 3.25am. A crime scene team, fingerprint experts, and a dog squad visited the spot and collected evidence. An FIR was registered at Palam Vihar police station under BNS sections 309(4) (robbery) and 3(5) (common intention).
