A 28-year-old woman was allegedly roughed up and gagged by a relative before being robbed of gold jewellery from her home in west Delhi’s Rajouri Garden area on Friday.

The accused was nabbed during the wee hours of Saturday and the robbed valuables recovered from him. Deepak Ahuja, 44, has revealed he chose to rob his own relative to pay off debts of about Rs 50 lakh he incurred in gambling.

The victim Harsha Batra’s husband and father-in-law were away at their shop at the time of the alleged robbery.

Harsha was alone at her home in Subhash Nagar at 11 am on Monday when her distant relative Ahuja gained a friendly entry into the house.

“She offered Ahuja tea and they were talking when he suddenly jumped and pressed her neck. He demanded the keys to the almirah in which jewellery and cash were kept. They scared woman immediately handed over the keys,” said a senior police officer.

But before Ahuja made his way to the almirah, he gagged her with a cloth to keep her silent.

“Before leaving, he again threatened the woman of dire consequences if she disclosed the incident to anyone. Fearing for her life, the woman promised him she would keep the incident to herself,” said the officer.

The victim immediately called her husband after Ahuja left. Police were subsequently informed and a team put on Ahuja’s trail.

Police said raids were conducted at several possible hideouts of the accused. He was finally nabbed at 3 am on Saturday near Japanese Park in outer Delhi’s Rohini.

At his instance, all the robbed jewellery items were recovered. Police said Ahuja is a garments supplier in areas like Gandhi Nagar, Chandni Chowk and Karol Bagh.
He was being troubled by people he had lost to in gambling and he decided to target his own relative.

He knew she generally stayed home alone in the daytime, police said.