According to police, the robbers were four in number and gained entry to the ground floor flat of Manish Goyal (819, Sector 8) by climbing over the back wall and breaking a window grill. They struck at about 1:30 a.m.

After searching the other rooms, they forced their way into the bedroom of Goyal (26) and his wife Chhaya (21). The robbers, who carried knives, roughed up the couple and told them to remain silent or take a worse thrashing. They snapped the telephone and other cable wires and used the wires to bind the couple. One man stood guard over the couple, while the others ransacked the house. According to Goyal, they kept the house dark and went about their task with the help of torches and a bulb in the storeroom.

Speaking to Newsline, a badly-bruised Goyal described the men as fluent in Hindi and attired in T-shirts and loose pyjamas. However, as they had covered their faces, he was not confident of being able to recognise them. Goyal said one of the robbers told him that they had planned the robbery on Sunday but since they could not make a "settlement" with certain people in the police, they could not strike on that day.

Goyal said it was nearly 3:30 a.m. when the robbers left after warning them not to raise an alarm for at least 10 minutes. They were not as quiet in departing as they had been in entering; a noise alarmed his parents, Pawan and Santosh, and his 19-year-old sister, who stay upstairs. They came down to investigate but by that time the robbers had fled.

The family called the police and within minutes the Control Room van reached the spot. Later, during the day, the dog squad was pressed into service and finger prints were also taken. A case has been registered under Sections 458, 380 of IPC and further investigations are on.