The incident has exposed numerous holes in the security arrangements made by the police in the area, one of the busiest and richest trading places in the Capital. And loopholes in the report filed by the victim which shows how the crime took place right under the noses of a cross-section of the populace, including the police.

The police complaint says that at 3.30 pm, four youths barged into Om Prakash's wool shop on 1145/14, Sadar Bazaar. They said they had bank drafts to be encashed -- Om Prakash does this work for businessmen indulging in massive bank transactions.

When he invited them in, the four boys took out country-made revolvers and knives and told Om Prakash to give them whatever cash he had. The Rs 3.5 lakh that he handed over was the money he had got by cashing the draft of a businessman which he was supposed to give back in due course.

The four unidentified robbers then allegedly shut the three men in their own shop by pulling down the shutters. According to the police, there are two telephones in the shop. But the crime was reported only at 5.30 pm, two hours after the crime was committed.

DCP North S.N. Shrivastva says, ``Om Prakash said he did not know how to call the police. That is why it took him two hours to call for help. Then he said the phones were not working. But when we were there on the spot there was a call coming in every two minutes.'' Also none of the three men locked in the shop were tied up and, therefore, had complete access to the phones. It was, in fact, by calling a neighbour on the phone that they got help.