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What began as an ordinary evening for a family in Delhi’s upscale Golf Links area quickly turned into a terrifying ordeal — not at the hands of strangers, but someone they had let into their home just days earlier.
It was early Thursday evening, between 7:30 to 8 pm, when a family of four – an elderly couple, their daughter-in-law, and their minor grandchild – were allegedly “held hostage”, “manhandled” and robbed of gold and cash.
The ordeal began when the family opened the door to their recently hired house help, who had joined them just five to six days earlier.
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However, he wasn’t alone. With him entered 5 accomplices, who manhandled the family members, held them hostage and robbed them of gold jewellery worth ₹25-30 lakhs within 20-25 minutes.
The men were carrying sticks and house-breaking tools to “scare” the family members, said police, adding that the incident seems to be a “planned”.
A distress call reporting the robbery was received by police around 8pm on Thursday. Confirming the incident, Deputy Commissioner of Police (New Delhi) Sachin Sharma said the accused, who were wearing masks, manhandled the family, held them hostage, and then carried out the robbery.
“The main accused has been identified and he was only hired last week. No domestic staff verification was performed by the family. He and his associates managed to decamp with jewellery. We have deployed multiple teams. We have some leads and will soon catch the accused,” he said.
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“The family had hired the accused around five to six days back. He came there around 7:30pm and they opened the door for him. However, they did not know he was followed by five masked men. All the accused gained entry and then manhandled the family members. The family was then held hostage in a room and threatened to give all their jewellery,” a senior police officer said.
The main accused has been identified as Sushil — who the officials found was hired after another domestic staffer recommended his name.
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The incident sheds a light on lapse of security in even high-end areas. Despite being so close to some of the most heavily guarded parts of the city, the accused managed to slip away without a trace.
The victim family owns a liquor business and lives near Tughlaq Road. The elderly man is the chairman and managing director of the liquor firm owned by the family, according to two investigators aware of the case details, who asked not to be identified.
The victims family has not yet issued a statement on the incident.
Jignasa Sinha is a Principal Correspondent who's writes on Delhi crime, gender and labour.
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