House-owner O.P. Gandhi got six stitches on his head while his wife, two daughters, one of them disabled, and a son reportedly received body-blows.

The incident comes barely three weeks after robbers had struck the Sector 21 house of veteran journalist Tribhuvan Nath, on August 4.

Gandhi told Newsline that it was around 2.30 a.m. that he heard loud bangs on his bedroom door, which was locked. "The robbers had apparently broken open the two front doors -- included the mesh door." He said he tried to prevent the robbers from entering the bedroom by standing against the door. "However, they got some heavy stones and pounded these on the door, and I was no match for the strength of six men. As soon as they entered, they hit me on the head with an iron rod and covered my face with a cloth," he said.

His 20-year-old daughter, Shalu, an MA student in Punjab University, tried to call for help over the telephone but the robbers pulled the cable from her hand and hit her hard on the face.

"She was asked where the ornaments were kept and she immediately handed over the gold chain and ear-rings she had on," Gandhi said.

His wife, Saroj, in the meantime, rushed to the children's bedroom from the connecting bathroom door but the robbers had already broken their bedroom door. "While one of them was hitting everybody with a lathi, the others were busy ransacking the house. I was hit repeatedly, my mother was also hit many times," Shalu told Newsline.

Even 18-year-old Arti, Gandhi's handicapped daughter, was not spared. She too got a beating as did her eight-year-old brother, Nitin. One of the robbers snatched Saroj's ear-rings.

After nearly 20 minutes, as the robbers were taking out the electronic goods, a man on the watch outside called those inside to leave everything and rush as he had heard some noise. "All of them went outside and two of them even grabbed some Coke bottles from the refrigerator," Gandhi said.

Gold jewellery worth between Rs 10,000 and Rs 15,000 and Rs 1,000 in cash were reportedly stolen. However, a locked bag containing a gold ring and a pair of ear-rings was recovered outside the house when the dog squad was pressed into service.

"The fingerprints could not be taken as the robbers had applied something with a foul smell, either a chemical or some oil, on their hands,'' Gandhi said. He added that the police had been alerted by a chowkidar of a nearby hospital, which is under construction, that he had seen some men entering the house and had heard noises too. "But the police started interrogating him instead. They arrived within minutes of the incident but didn't make any attempt to chase the six even though they were on foot," he alleged.

"The modus operandi in this particular case is akin to that of Bawaria or Pardi tribes. Their involvement cannot be ruled out," Superintendent of Police Alok Mittal told Newsline. A case under Sections 395 and 397 of the Indian Penal Code has been registered.

Panchkula: Following news of another robbery in the area, Sector 21 residents today staged a dharna and blocked traffic on the Zirakpur-Panchkula road for three hours to protest against the "police inaction and inefficiency".

The residents demanded a police chowki in the area and the removal of jhuggis in Azad Colony.