New Delhi. In a shocking incident of broad daylight robbery, burglars walked away with valuables worth lakhs from a home when the house-owner was stuck booking railway tickets at the IRCTC website.
This is the first known incident of a heist where the victim was not harmed, confined, or threatened even though he was awake and conscious.
A file picture, allegedly of a man who didn't give up on booking Tatkal tickets from the IRCTC website.
According to reports, the house owner Vinod Gupta, who is a businessman, was glued to his computer trying to book a Tatkal ticket through the IRCTC website. He was alone at the home at that time, as rest of the family members had gone to a nearby temple to pray for his success.
"My wife and children had gone to a temple to pray that everything goes fine and the ticket is booked. I had been trying unsuccessfully for the last three days," 45-year-old Vinod Gupta told Faking News.
Using this opportunity, the robbers, waiting for the clock to strike 10 in the morning when Tatkal bookings starts, walked into the home and quietly removed the Refrigerator, Washing machine, TV, Music system, rosewood furniture, and some cash.
Neighbors say that they saw the robbers loading these things in to a waiting truck, but they thought that the residents were relocating to a new city as they didn't hear any sounds of resistance or protest. They didn't note the truck's number or took notice of the robbers' faces.
At least half-an-hour after the truck had sped away, Vinod Gupta realized what had happened.
"I had muted the TV so that my full concentration was on booking tickets," Gupta recalled, "After various session failures, password re-entry, and online transactions, I could finally book the ticket. Relaxed, I pressed the mute button to unmute the TV, only to realize that the TV was missing!"
A shocked Gupta alerted the police and called back his family to share the joy of booking of Tatkal ticket and grief of losing valuables.
"The robbers as well as I struck a jackpot," Vinod Gupta explained how he viewed the whole situation.
The police department has started investigations, but they are not too hopeful as Mr. Gupta couldn't come up with any details except for how many times IRCTC returned "Service Unavailable" error.
There were also disputes over whether the case fell under the jurisdiction of local police or the Railway police.
To make sure such robberies are not repeated, police has asked the general public to inform the local station whenever they are attempting to book Tatkal tickets on IRCTC.
http://www.fakingnews.com/2013/02/robbers-loot-home-while-house-owner-was-busy-booking-tatkal-tickets/