Panchkula: Although both Mohali and Panchkula police claim to have cracked the Rs 1.53 crore dacoity at Rajat Jewellers in the Mansa Devi Complex, neither has so far contacted owner Aashi Khanna, whose life changed irreversibly after the dacoity in July last year.
In any case, it does not matter to him. All he wants is his lost jewllery so that he can revive his business.
Says Khanna, “I do not know the current status of investigation, as no one from the police has contacted me. I just get to know of things from newspaper reports. It is of no concern to me whether it is Mohali Police or Panchkula Police who does the investigation, I just want my hard-earned money back.” Khanna denied the Mohali police claim that Narender alias Sonu, whom the Panchkula police have arrested, had taken Rs 20,000 from him by promising to give information about the dacoits.
Khanna has a jewellery shop in Shimla, and had opened the shop in Mansa Devi Complex on the insistence of his son Rajat. “I was hesitant about the location, but he insisted, and so we came here. But, now we regret the decision. The incident has scarred our lives, and only we know what we have been through,” said Khanna, adding that after the dacoity his financial condition was so bad that he had to borrow Rs 1 lakh from someone.
“My son is a pass-out from a premier business school, and now he runs from pillar to post, asking if there is any lead in the case. The dacoits had hit me on my head, and leg, and I still have to visit hospital for treatment of my leg, as it goes numb at times. Our loss was much more than what people say,” said Khanna, who was in the shop at that time.
The dacoits had put a revolver on his head and then taken away gold, silver and diamond jewellery. “My son had gone out to call a priest for some function at home, and I was there at the shop with a few workers. I wish he was with me. I do not know the revolver was real or fake, but I was terrified, and I still do not know when will I get back what I lost,” he said.
Rajat Jewellers is no longer a shop you can just walk in. Khanna has installed a high-security system such that no one can enter the shop without the permission of the owner. The doors have electronic locks, and open only from inside.
A board outside reads, ‘People wearing helmets and carrying bags are not allowed inside’. The dacoits had come wearing helmets and carried bags.
