JAMMU, Feb 1: Armed robbers conducted a broad daylight heist today in the Greater Kailash locality, taking the owner of a jewellery store hostage and decamping with 1.5 kilograms of gold.Around 1:15 pm, two well-dressed, bike-borne youths wearing helmets and black glasses entered Anand Jewellery Store in the Greater Kailash locality, a police official said.
He said they took the proprietor of the store, Prabha Anand, hostage using a sharp edged weapon (toka).Thereafter, one of the youths forcibly broke the display mirrors in the shop and stole 1,500 grams of gold items, including costly necklaces, rings and other gold jewellery, the official added.
According to Kuldeep Raj, the husband of Prabha Anand, the incident occurred when their son was out of the store to deposit a cheque at the bank.
“My wife was terrified as the thieves were carrying large sharp edged weapons to conduct the robbery,” he said.
After the heist, local shopkeepers gathered in large numbers in Greater Kailash and began sloganeering against the police administration for its alleged failure to protect them.
Expressing shock over the incident, one of the shopkeepers said, “What is happening to Jammu? A few days ago, a youth was murdered in broad daylight in Jammu’s Jewel Chowk area, and now a robbery has taken place during the daytime at a jewellery store.”“This raises serious concerns about the functioning of the police, as it seems impossible for bike-borne youths carrying weapons to pass through multiple police checkposts and evade CCTV surveillance,” he said.
Raj Kumar Babbar, President of the Swarnkar Sangh, Jammu and Kashmir, claimed that recent crimes in Jammu have shaken the community in particular and people of Jammu in general.
He said the murder in broad daylight and the subsequent robbery have exposed weaknesses in the functioning of both the civil and police administrations in the region.
“If this situation is allowed to worsen, things will spiral out of control in the coming days,” he warned.
Babbar has demanded the immediate arrest of the suspects and called for the issuance of weapon licenses to ensure the safety of jewellers in the district.
While no arrest was made in the case till the press time, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Jammu, Joginder Singh, stated that dedicated teams of police officials have been formed to nab the accused, and they are actively pursuing the matter.
