Loot at leisure in town's VIP Colony

Patna: Nine gun-toting men entered a house, polished off sweets and savouries in the refrigerator, and looted the residents of their belongings for over two hours before dawn on Wednesday in the "safest" locality in the sub-divisional town of Dalsinghsarai in Samastipur, about 90km northeast of Patna. The octogenarian couple who own the two-storey house in the town's VIP Colony said they repeatedly tried to contact senior police and administrative officials in vain after the robbers drove off in the family's Hyundai i10 car. "My house is a stone's throw from official residences of government officials, including sub-divisional officer Vishnu Dev Mandal and sub-divisional police officer (SDPO) Santosh Kumar. The Dalsinghsarai police station is also not far. But no help came from any of these officials," rued Urmila Choudhary, retired principal of a government school. Urmila lives with her retired schoolteacher husband Ram Ekbal Choudhary, their government-school teacher daughter Bibha Kumari, son K.B. Deepak and his wife Kumari Mani. "The robbers entered the house after scaling the wall around 1am," Bibha said. "They confined us in two rooms and looted everything. One of the robbers grabbed my gold chain. Later, another asked me to hand over my gold bangle. They threatened to kill us, we had no choice. They even ate up food in the fridge." Ram Ekbal had withdrawn Rs 6 lakh for his grandson's admission to a coaching institute in Kota, Rajasthan. Besides the cash the robbers fled with jewellery worth over Rs 10 lakh and valuables including LIC bonds. When they were done, they asked for the keys to the family's car. The robbers, the family members said, were in the age group of 20 to 25 years, wore branded goggles and shoes, and had covered their faces. After they left, the family found one phone the dacoits had missed. "We tried to contact the senior police officials and the Dalsinghsarai police station house officer on their official phones but there was no response," Bibha said. "We live in a posh locality. Our neighbours are senior police and administrative officials. Yet, our life is at risk." Policemen regularly patrol the well-lit colony at night. Dalsinghsarai SDPO Santosh Kumar denied any delay on the cops' part: "Police received information at around 4.36am. By 5am a police team was at the spot. Later, the acting SHO Sunil Kumar and I visited the site." He admitted the area is considered the safest locality in the town around 18km from the district headquarters. The family's car, the SDPO said, met with an accident near Tajpur in Samastipur district. "The vehicle bore blood stains, which suggested the occupants of the car might have been injured," he added. The district has seen a spate of robberies and murders in the past few months. A Dalsinghsarai resident said: " Yahan sab bhagwan bharose hai (Everything is at god's mercy here)."