Pune: Four armed intruders on Wednesday morning held Mumbai-based cotton trader Hanskumar Khimji (79), his sister-in-law Hema Chheda (63) and domestic helps hostage at gunpoint for over three hours in his bungalow in an isolated bylane off Apte Road in the Deccan Gymkhana area. They robbed cash and valuables worth Rs 5.70 lakh.The intruders moved into the ground-plus-one bungalow around 9.30am. When Khimji told them that he did not have much cash and valuables in the bungalow, one of the intruders left with the trader’s driver to his Mumbai office in Chheda’s car to collect Rs 1 crore.For over three hours, the remaining three criminals moved around in Khimji’s bungalow after tying up the caretaker and domestic help. They pushed Khimji and Chheda into one of the rooms on the upper floor of the bungalow.At one point around 1.30pm, all three criminals had moved out of the upper room. Chheda displayed alacrity to immediately bolt the door from the inside and raise an alarm. Panicked at her cries, the criminals ran out of the bungalow towards hotel Ramee Grand and from there fled towards Jangli Maharaj road.The fourth culprit, who had by then reached Kurla in Mumbai in the car with Khimji’s driver, received an alert from his aides. He got down from the car and fled.Chheda later lodged a complaint with the Deccan Gymkhana police, who registered an offence under sections 392 (robbery), 384 (extortion), 386 (extortion by putting a person in fear of death or grievous hurt) and 342 (punishment for wrongful confinement) of the Indian Penal Code and relevant sections of the Indian Arms Act.When TOI visited the bungalow, Chheda’s son, who did not reveal his first name, said, “The criminals ran away from the bungalow thanks to the presence of mind shown by my mother. They have robbed some valuables. No one was hurt.”Khimji occasionally visits the bungalow, “Saroj Sadan”. “It is an old structure and the owner wanted to sell it off,” senior inspector Bhaskar Jadhav of the Deccan Gymkhana police said.“Khimji, Chheda, driver Shivaji Medage (50), caretaker Anant Khale (45) and a domestic help were in the bungalow on Wednesday morning when the doorbell rang. When Khale opened the door, the four men barged inside, pushed him down and tied his hands. Brandishing a firearm and sharp weapons, they threatened Khimji and the others of dire consequences. They tied up Medage and the maid with tape and locked them with Khale in one of the rooms. They pushed Khimji and Chheda into another room and asked them to hand over their valuables,” Jadhav said.When Khimji told them that he did not have much cash and valuables in the bungalow, one of the criminals left with the driver to the trader’s Mumbai office to collect Rs 1 crore. The criminals told Khimji and Chheda that three of them would remain in the bungalow till the driver returned with the money.Two criminals searched Khimji’s cupboards and took gold and diamond ornaments worth Rs 5.70 lakh. Their third accomplice sat in the room where Khimji and Chheda were kept hostage. “They were constantly in touch with their fourth accomplice travelling to Mumbai. They moved around the bungalow smoking,” Jadhav said.“While the criminals were inside, some interested buyers had come to Khimji’s bungalow. When they rang the bell, the trio did not respond initially. As the bell was constantly ringing, one of them went down and had a talk with one of them at the door,” Jadhav said.When the criminal in Khimji’s room went out to talk with the others around 1.30pm, Chheda locked the door from inside, ran towards the window and started calling out to the neighbours in the adjacent bungalow and residents of a building nearby. The criminals panicked and fled with a bag containing the booty.Jadhav said the car driver and the fourth criminal had reached Kurla by then. “The driver later told us that the criminal told him to stop the car around 1.30pm and fled,” he said.

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