In one of the biggest cases of dacoity in Bihar about two dozen criminals looted gold worth Rs 10 crore from a jewelry shop in the heart of Darbhanga town on Wednesday morning. The incident sent shock waves in the police and administrative circles throughout the state compelling chief minister Nitish Kumar to hold a high-level meeting on law and order with chief secretary, home secretary and other officials.
The daring daylight crime took place just over half a kilometre from the Town Police Station. The house of the Darbhanga BJP MLA Sanjay Saraogi is not far away from Alankar Jewelers from where the gold worth Rs 10 crore was looted. The SSP, Babu Ram reached the spot after the criminals fled away.
The whole incident has been caught in the CCTV camera which clearly showed as to how armed criminals entered the shop, made the owner and employees hostage at the pistol-point. They reportedly fired 25-30 rounds. But nobody was injured.
Local people said that a police patrol van usually stands in the nearby. It could not yet be known whether the vehicle was there at the time of the crime. Upset by the incident the local BJP MLA questioned the role of the police.
The house of the shop owner is in the vicinity of the show-room, one of the biggest of its kind in Darbhanga. Traders and local people are surprised as to how in this era of hi-tech policing and CCTV cameras criminals come in several four-wheelers, commits daring crime, open so many rounds of fire, load bags of gold in the four-wheelers before speeding away without the knowledge of the police. As marriage season is at its peak the crime of such a scale in the broad daylight has badly shaken the faith of the people on the police.
Criminals have taken Bihar by storm after the Assembly poll and re-election of the Nitish Kumar government. The RJD and Congress spokesmen Shakti Yadav and Prem Chand Mishra directly held the Nitish Kumar government responsible for the huge rise in crime of all types in Bihar.
