Lakhs stolen, from home and on street

Gun to head, man signs cheques

A security guard outside the building housing Hormuz Burjor Bhagwagar’s apartment on Shakespeare Sarani. Picture by Sanat Kumar Sinha Calcutta, Jan 11: Three youths yesterday entered a man’s house in Shakespeare Sarani posing as medical representatives, pointed a gun at his head and made him sign cheques worth Rs 11 lakh that they withdrew from his account. By the time 54-year-old Hormuz Burjor Bhagwagar, a businessman, informed police and alerted the bank, the bearer cheques had been cashed. The caretaker of the Sukh Sadan building, on whose first floor the bachelor Bhagwagar lives, said he saw three well-dressed youths enter the premises around 11.30am. They told the caretaker, Mohammad Azhar, they wanted to deliver a medicine that controls blood sugar to Bhagwagar, a diabetic. Azhar spoke to Bhagwagar on the intercom. “He told me to let them in,” Azhar said. Bhagwagar told police he had ordered some medicines. “I thought they had come with my medicines. That is why I opened the door when they rang the bell,” he said. According to his statement to the detective department, the youths bolted the door immediately after entering. “One of them took out a revolver from a leather bag. The man, who appeared to be in his 20s, aimed it at my forehead,” Bhagwagar told the investigators. “They told me in Hindi to get my savings account cheque book. I did as they said. I was sure they would otherwise pull the trigger.” Bhagwagar was so frightened that he also revealed that the total amount in his account was Rs 11.5 lakh. The three made him write three bearer cheques — two of Rs 4 lakh and one of Rs 3 lakh. “As soon as the cheques were signed, they tied Bhagwagar’s hands and legs and took him to one of the bedrooms. One of them left for the bank with the cheques and a credit card while the other two stood guard,” said Jawed Shamim, deputy commissioner of police, detective department. The amounts were large, so the bank rang up Bhagwagar to confirm if the transaction should be carried out. A gun pointed at his head, Bhagwagar gave them permission. “I had no other option,” he said. The young man at the bank also withdrew Rs 60,000 using Bhagwagar’s credit card. The businessman had been forced to disclose the PIN number. After withdrawing the cash, the youth at the bank called up the two others. They left around 3.30pm, taking with them the Rs 20,000 Bhagwagar had at home. Before leaving, the men disconnected the intercom and locked Bhagwagar in his bedroom, but kept the front door ajar. Seeing the door half-open, a neighbour later walked in to find Bhagwagar tied in his bedroom. “Bhagwagar immediately contacted the bank, but the money was gone,” an officer from the detective department’s anti-dacoity wing said. The police suspect an insider’s involvement because the youths knew that Bhagwagar was diabetic. Bhagwagar’s domestic help had left her job a few days ago. “We are preparing portraits. It seems they were smart and well educated,” Shamim said.