Mumbai: Toy gun breaks off as caretaker tries to rob Malad businessmen

When one of the victims tried to hold the gun, he realised it was a plastic one. Illustration/Ravi Jadhav

Even after working as a caretaker at a commercial building in Malad East for 15 years, a 46-year-old man tried to rob two businessmen running a company at the same premises, that too with the help of a toy gun! But as luck would have it, the moment one of the victims caught hold of the gun, a part of it fell off. The realisation that it was a plastic gun helped the duo catch hold of the accused and hand him over to the cops.

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Victims Samir Gandhi, 50, and his brother Kartik Gandhi runs a company Gandhi Automation Pvt. Ltd at the Chavda Commercial Centre in Malad East. The brothers usually go to office around 8.30 am and leave around 8 pm. On May 10, the incident took place when they were leaving around the same time and walking down the stairs from second floor. "As we went down a couple of stairs, I heard a noise from behind. We turned and saw a man wearing a mask pointing a gun at us," said Samir. "He asked for all the money we had and threatened to shoot. That's when we froze and couldn't think of what to do next," he added.

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When Samir tried to hold the gun, a part of it fell off and he realised that it was made of plastic. When they tried to grab hold of the accused, he fled in the opposite direction towards the lobby. However, they chased him and eventually managed to catch him. Meanwhile, other people in the building also helped the brothers nab the culprit. On removing the mask, everyone present at the spot was shocked to find that it was caretaker Virendra Kumar Sharma. He was immediately handed over to the Bangur Nagar police. Vijay Bane, senior PI, said, "Sharma has been booked under IPC section 393 (attempt to commit robbery). He was in need of money as he wanted to go to his village. He thought that the Gandhis must be carrying cash in their bags, and hence, it would be easy to rob them. The accused has been sent to judicial custody."

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