BHOPAL: An Additional District and Sessions Judge Surendra Kumar Sharma who is posted in Umaria district of Madhya Pradesh was allegedly held captive on bed by armed robbers inside his rented bungalow on Tuesday night.
Additional District and Sessions Judge Surendra Kumar Sharma, who is aged around 50, lives in a rented bungalow in Khalesar Naka area of Umaria district (around 450 km from Bhopal). He was alone in the house as his family is presently based in Delhi.
At around 1.30 am, 3-4 unidentified men armed with sword and other sharp-edged weapons first locked the room of the judge’s servant from outside and then broke open doors of at least two rooms to barge into the judge’s bedroom, where he was sleeping.
They covered him with a blanket before tying him through the bed and then searched all his rooms for valuables and money. They asked the judge to tell them about money and jewellery, but after the judge told them there wasn’t enough cash or jewellery inside the house, the unidentified armed men left the house with around Rs 500 cash. They had also taken his cell-phone and laptop, but left that behind before leaving the house.
Importantly, the security guard deployed at the judge’s bungalow had gone to Chitrakoot for treatment of his close relative.
The robbers stayed at the house for around 30 minutes, but on not finding anything precious they left the house, leaving the judge tied to the bed. After great difficulty the judge managed to free self and then went to his servant’s room which had been locked by the housebreakers from outside. He subsequently rang his car driver using servant’s phone, after which the matter was reported to police.
“Primarily it seems a case of housebreak for purpose of robbery. A case has been registered under Section 394 of IPC (voluntarily causing hurt in committing robbery) and a Special Investigation Team-SIT has been constituted to the probe the crime,” Umaria district police superintendent Sachin Sharma told The New Indian Express.
Informed sources in Umaria district police confided that three men have been detained from a SUV and are being questioned in connection with the sensational high-profile crime at the Judge’s residence.