Family drugged by help; cash,jewellery looted

The police suspect the family was served food laced with sedatives or poison and robbed by their full-time domestic help,20-year-old Shambhu,on Thursday night. Dr Alok Jain who is in charge of their case,said,“They are out of danger but still not conscious. They might take 24 to 48 hours to regain consciousness. The sedation is strong. We are waiting for the police forensic report and will conduct the gastric lavage procedure on the victims.”

“When the help arrived in the morning,she found the doors unlocked and the house ransacked. The almirahs of both the rooms in which the five were sleeping (Anil and Urmila in their bedroom; Manu,Tanish and their son in another room) were broken and ransacked,” the police said. The domestic help then informed the president of RWA,Yogesh Chand Gupta,who called the police.

Shambhu,hired only 10 days ago,is missing since the incident. “He was employed on the reference of another domestic help Ranjay,who worked in the neighbourhood. Both belong to Bihar and are missing. We suspect they are behind the crime,” the police said. They added there were probably more than five assailants. The entry to the house was friendly. “House keys were used. The almirahs’ locks,on the other hand,were broken,” said the police.

Anil and his son Manu run a business of manufacturing wall clocks and watches,the police said. They own a factory in Gulabi Bagh and a shop in Lajpat Nagar. that they often kept cash in large amounts at home,officials added.

Anil’s daughter Meetakshi who lives in Punjabi Bagh,told Newsline,“Jewellery,cash and even expensive clothes are missing from the house.”

A case has been registered at the Civil Lines police station.