Noida, June 26: A senior citizen and his wife thwarted attempts by two armed assailants to rob them in Noida’s Sector 11 on Wednesday night.
According to S L Sharma and his wife Suprabah’s complaint to the police, two men on a motorcycle attempted to rob them while they were on an after-dinner walk near their house around 11.30 on Wednesday night. The assailants, however, fled after the couple put up a fight and Sharma, in fact, managed to snatch their pistol.
Sharma, 60, is honorary secretary to a member of a central advisory committee in the Union Labour Ministry and lives in Noida’s Sector 11.
According to Sharma, the assailants had driven up on a motorcycle and asked them about the way to Sector 6. “They carried on with the conversation for a good five minutes or so, asking us about the shortest possible route, and slowly encircled my wife,” Sharma told Newsline. “I did not realise their motive till I heard my wife struggling with them, just a few steps behind me.”
According to Suprabah, one of the assailants had held her at gunpoint and sought her cellphone and the gold jewellery she was wearing. Sharma caught hold of the motorcycle from behind while Suprabah, who, by then, had pulled herself out of their clutches, pushed the assailant with the pistol towards her husband.
Taken aback by the sudden turn of events, the men were nonplussed, and that was time enough for Sharma to snatch the gun. The couple then shouted for help. Some drivers were waiting nearby, but Sharma said no one came to their rescue since they had noticed that the assailants were armed.
“I continued to hang on to the motorcycle with one hand till the men became certain that they would not get anything from us,” Sharma said. “Then they revved up the bike and fled.”
The assailants’ pistol was left behind with Sharma, which the couple handed over to the police.
Asserting that citizens have to stand up and fight criminals, Sharma said: “Not everything can be left to the police. Residents have to stand up and fight — citizens should realise they themselves are responsible for their safety first. I saw fear on their (assailants’) faces when I did not cow down.”
The Noida police, meanwhile, said the couple will be felicitated and awarded a certificate on Friday. Ashok K Singh, senior superintendent of police, Gautam Buddha Nagar, said: “We would give them a certificate commending their brave effort to foil the robbery bid. If people of Noida become confident about fighting criminals, the crime rate will come down marginally.”
—-Agencies