Nadiadwala said he had just returned from a party with his wife, Barkha, at 3.30 am and was in the bedroom when Barkha decided to check on their child who was in the flat opposite with his mother. No sooner had she left their flat than Prabhat Tripathi, 23, the guard hired to protect their flats, took out a revolver and pointed it to her head. He then told her to take him to her bedroom and to give him all the money they had. He kept Nadiadwala too at bay with threats till Barkha gave him all the money they had in their cupboard.

However, this was not enough for him and he asked her to empty all her jewellery and then locked them in the flat and ran away. The Nadiadwalas immediately notified the Versova police who filed a case of theft. Tripathi, who was stationed at Nadiadwal’s residence by Tiger Security, is still absconding and the police are trying to locate him.

“Tripathi has been with Tiger Security for five months. He was mostly stationed at the Nadiadwala residence during these months,” said senior inspector S Nalavade of Versova police station. “The gun that Tripathi was using seems to be unlicensed. He told us this guard was not usually armed,” he said.

Asked about Tripathi’s background, he said: “He is from Uttar Pradesh, which is where we think he got the gun from. His employee registration has not been done with us. Nadiadwala should have personally checked his background.”