Gorakhpur: Armed robbers barged into the residence of a retired revenue official in Uttar Pradesh’s Gorakhpur district, held his family hostage at gunpoint and fled with jewellery and cash worth more than ₹50 lakh, police said on Tuesday.
The incident took place around 7.30 pm on Monday near Rajhi Maurya Chauraha under the AIIMS police station limits. According to police, four masked men arrived on two motorcycles and knocked on the door of the house belonging to 70-year-old Balendra Singh.
As soon as Singh opened the door, one of the assailants allegedly pressed a pistol to his temple and forced him inside, while the others followed, brandishing firearms. When Singh attempted to raise an alarm, he was hit on the head with the butt of a pistol, leaving him injured, police said.
The robbers then gathered Singh’s family members, including his wife Usha, daughter-in-law Kalpana and sister-in-law Purnima, and forced them to remove their gold ornaments. The women were later locked inside a room. The assailants also threatened Singh’s two grandsons by pointing pistols at their heads and demanded the keys to cupboards, police added. Fearing for the safety of the children, the women handed over the keys.
Singh’s visually impaired younger brother, Tejbahadur Singh, who was resting in the verandah at the time, was not harmed during the robbery, police said.
The entire incident reportedly lasted about 25 minutes, after which the robbers fled with jewellery and cash estimated to be worth over ₹50 lakh.
An FIR has been registered against unidentified persons, and police teams are scanning CCTV footage from the surrounding areas to identify the suspects, who are believed to be in their early 20s.
Superintendent of Police (City) Abhinav Tyagi said multiple raids are underway and expressed confidence that the accused would be arrested soon.
