Armed goons rob city housewife in broad daylight

BHUBANESWAR: An officer of the National Security Guard (NSG) and his wife on Thursday alleged police laxity in arresting three goons involved in an armed robbery in their home in Khandagiri area.
The officer, Dhiren Kumar Sahoo, said three men had barged into their Kalinga Nagar home on Tuesday morning, beaten up his wife and robbed her at gunpoint.Sahoo said his wife, Nirmala, and daughter were alone at the house at the time of the incident. Sahoo is an NSG inspector posted in Kolkata. He rushed back home from Kolkata after hearing the news and lodged a complaint at Khandagiri police station on Wednesday. But no arrest has been made as yet.
The Sahoos along with some neighbours met DCP Nitinjeet Singh on Thursday, demanding immediate arrest of the culprits.
Recounting the ordeal, Nirmala said she was working in the kitchen when she saw three masked men pointing a revolver and daggers at her. Her daughter was studying in another room at that time. “Since it was morning, the door was open. I was taken aback on seeing the intruders,” Nirmala said. “When I raised an alarm, they attacked me with the dagger, snatched my gold necklace and some other household belongings,” she added.
Some residents of the area had gathered outside the house on hearing the commotion. “My neighbours tried to catch the goons, but they brandished the revolver at them and fled. My neighbours took me to a nearby hospital for treatment,” said Nirmala, who received a serious injury on the forehead.
“It’s shocking that goons have the audacity to break into a house in the morning,” Dhiren said, adding that the incident pointed at the deteriorating law and order in the city and police failure to curb such crimes.
“Our investigation is on. We are trying to nab the culprits. We are also taking the help of the neighbours, who saw the culprits escape,” the DCP said.
The daring robbery came a day after unidentified criminals attacked two traders and decamped with their money at Jadupur in the same Khandagiri area. Bansidhar Sahoo and Saroj Sahoo, who own shops in Unit-IV market, were returning home when the assailants pounced on them on Monday night.
The city had witnessed daylight robberies earlier too. Armed crooks had barged into a businessman’s house and attacked his wife in Bomikhal area on September 30, 2011.
There is also a rise in incidents of snatching and burglary in Bhubaneswar, leaving cops in a tight spot.