Armed with his wife’s kitchen knife, a nurse from a private hospital in Kolkata tried to rob a jewellery shop after he lost his savings when the stock market index SENSEX dipped 7,000 points over the last 10 days.
Dipankar Pal, the accused with no previous criminal antecedents, was caught at the jewellery shop after he attempted to stab the owner of the shop by holding a knife to his throat. Police interrogation revealed Dipankar’s plan.
“Though Dipankar attempted to stab Sanjay Sarkar, the owner of the shop, in his neck, the injury was not serious because the knife was a small one. It was the knife that his wife used in the kitchen. His robbery attempt failed and Sarkar’s life was saved because the accused had no prior experience of committing a crime and no idea about the type of knife that should be used in such a daring operation,” said an officer at the East Jadavpur Police Station.
The incident took place on south Kolkata’s bustling Mukundapur Road.
Dipankar, a native of Tripura, worked as a nursing staff at a private hospital on the Eastern Metropolitan Bypass known for its specialty in cardiac issues.
“Dipankar was living in a rented house near the hospital. The CCTV cameras installed at the shop showed he had visited the outlet two days ago,” said a police officer probing into the incident.
During the interrogation, Dipankar confessed that he had visited the shop on Saturday to conduct a recce to execute his robbery plan.
“I asked the owner to show me a gold chain. I spent some time in the shop posing as a customer to observe whether the owner deals with the customers alone. I left after seeing two gold chains with a plan to return on Sunday. Since I know no one with criminal antecedents, I could not arrange a better weapon than the kitchen knife,” the accused reportedly told the police.
The police said that on the day of the incident, Dipankar visited the shop and requested Sarkar to show him the same two gold chains worth Rs 1.5 lakh.
“As the owner leaned forward to take out one from the showcase, Dipankar took out the knife from his pocket and stabbed Sarkar’s neck from behind. As the attack was not severe enough, Sarkar caught hold of Dipankar and raised alarm while blood oozed out of the wound,” said a police officer.
Sarkar’s nephew, who was upstairs, rushed and grabbed Dipankar. Other traders from the adjoining shops arrived at the scene and apprehended Dipankar.
Asked about his act, Dipankar told police that he had invested all his savings, which were meant to clear his dues, in the share market.
“But he suffered a massive loss because of the poor performance of the stock market over the past 10 days and the debtors were asking him to repay.
Dipankar then planned to rob the shop to make some quick money to meet his needs,” said the officer.
Follow us
