Peace around Golden Nest area on Mira-Bhayandar Road was shattered on Wednesday, after six unidentified people exploded crude bombs and looted a jewellery shop, Sanjoli Gold. A person was shot at and grievously injured, while another was hurt in a blast.

Mira Road police said the incident happened at about 8.15 pm, when six miscreants burst three bombs, barged into the shop. Anil Jain, the shop-owner, had gone out on some job and had asked his brother, Abhay Jain to look after the shop for some time. Deepak Jain, 12, Anil’s son, was also present in the shop at the time of the incident.

The miscreants took Abhay hostage at gunpoint and having amassed most of the jewellery in 10 minutes, decamped. Before fleeing, they shot Abhay in the stomach. They then burst two more bombs — one near Sonali Hotel in which a bystander, Sanjay Otale, was hurt — before making good their escape.

Abhay was rushed to the nearby Balaji Hospital, where his condition is stated to be critical. A visibly-shaken Deepak, who hid under a table to avoid being seen by the criminals, said, “The men came and left in a white Esteem car. They shot my uncle right in front of my eyes.” An eyewitness said two of the six tried to escape on a bike, entered a lane near Sonali Hotel, but finding it to be a blind lane, abandoned the vehicle and fled.

Mira Road police have cordoned off the entire area to track down the

miscreants. Ganpat Pingle, inspector (crime), said, “We are yet to ascertain the exact amount of jewellery looted. We are stunned by the temerity of the criminals to have carried out a daring operation in a congested area such as this.”

Sudhanshu Athalye/ DNA-Daily News & Analysis Source: 3D Syndication