Dacoits target 4 houses near Daund, flee with ₹7L loot

Pune: A gang of at least seven dacoits barged into four houses near Daund and robbed cash, gold jewellery and two motorcycles collectively worth Rs 7.10 lakh.The robbery happened in the early hours of Wednesday. The robbers assaulted the victims with sharp weapons and also thrashed them with sticks. A case of dacoity was registered with the Daund police.The dacoities happened in Babirnagar, Khorwadi and Alegaon villages in Daund taluka, about 80km from Pune.An officer from the Daund police said that the dacoits first struck at Babirnagar. They assaulted a farmer, Sidhhu Shinde, who was sleeping in front of his house, with a sharp weapon. They also thrashed his wife and robbed their gold jewellery. The gang entered Shinde’s house and robbed jewellery collectively worth Rs 4.70 lakh.After that, they barged into Vimal Awade’s house at Khorwadi. They thrashed Awade, her sister-in-law, and snatched their gold jewellery. Hearing the commotion, Awade’s husband, who was sleeping in their cattle shed, woke up and started heading towards their house. The accused pelted stones at him and fled. They robbed gold jewellery and cash collectively worth Rs 1.35 lakh from Awade’s house.After that, the gang barged into daily wage worker Mukinda Chalwadi’s house around 2.30 am. They broke the main door and gained entry. They forcibly snatched his cellphone, took his motorcycle key, and drove away from there.“Then, around 3.15am, the gang snatched the gold chain of Shivaji Kadam’s wife, who was sleeping outside their house. When Kadam raised an alarm, the gang fled. While fleeing, they took a motorcycle belonging to Kadam’s nephew,” the officer said.He said that the police have registered a case under sections 310 (dacoity) and 311 (robbery, or dacoity, with attempt to cause death or grievous hurt) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS). “We have formed teams to trace the accused,” he said.