A gang of four people drugged two employees of a jewellery shop in Amritsar and robbed them of gold ornaments worth around Rs 30 lakh. The incident occurred in Sector 20 of Panchkula on Thursday afternoon.

Omkar Chand Rathaur (25) and Om Prakash Pandey (30) work at P S Seth and Sons on Mall Road, Amritsar, which is run by Pradeep Seth and his brother Sandeep. They had come to Panchkula along with Kamal, a driver employed with the same shop, to deliver a bag containing the ornaments to one Ashish, an acquaintance of Pradeep. The bag containing 128 bangles and eight bracelets, weighing around 2.3 kg, was sent to Ashish as he was reportedly opening jewellery a showroom in Chandigarh.

The robbery took place in house number 401 of Block D/23, AWHO Society, around 1 pm. Rathaur and Pandey were also robbed of their mobile phones and cash.

According to the police, Ashish had asked Rathaur and Pandey to come to the house in AWHO Society in Sector 20. They were led to the house by a person who was waiting for them at the society gate where Kamal had dropped them before reportedly going to settle a challan issued against their vehicle on way to Chandigarh from Amritsar.

Inside the house, the police said, the two were offered juice. They drank it and fell unconscious. “I can only remember that there were already three other persons in the flat when we reached there. Before we lost consciousness, they had tied our hands and feet, sealed our mouths with a tape and even blindfolded us. I can only identify the one who led us to the flat. He was wearing a turban,” said Rathaur, who is recuperating at a hospital.

The house in AWHO Society belongs to Rajiv Chibber and was rented out three days ago to two people, the police said. The flat did not have much furniture barring a few articles in the drawing room.

“When I regained consciousness, I found the main door locked from outside. I somehow opened the window and called out for a child who was standing downstairs. We were rescued by the securitymen at the main society gate,” Rathaur added.

Talking to Newsline, Pradeep Seth said: “It was on January 19 when I first received a phone call from Ashish from his mobile number 9855201699. He had been calling up frequently since then, asking for various jewellery items. He had ordered for the bangles, saying there was urgent requirement as he was opening a showroom. When I asked him to pick up these from my shop in Amritsar, he said he could not come since he was nursing a fractured leg. Hence, I sent my employees with the jewellery.”