The boy's only fault seemed to be that he was crying and the robber thought this would alert the neighbours. The robber took away Rs 1,500, jewellery worth Rs 15,000 and, the police say, all the audio and video cassettes in the house.

Residents of pocket-B of the upmarket DDA colony, where the incident took place, are shocked. ``How can anyone do this to a child, even a robber,'' says an elderly neighbour.

Around 11.30 am, when a medium-built man wearing a black coat came knocking, Rahul and his mother Kalpana were alone. His father Uma Kant Holelkar, an engineer with a private concern, was away at work. Rahul's sister Aditi, 7, was in school. The family had moved from Bangalore to Delhi only six months ago.

When Kalpana opened the door of her second floor flat, theman claimed he was from a courier agency and had come to deliver a packet for her husband.As soon as Kalpana signed the receipt, the man said ``your baby is crying''. Kalpana says she turned around, and in a flash the man clamped her mouth and entered the flat. He gagged and bound her and asked her to hand over the keys to the almirah.

The burglar then went about a looting spree, opening drawers, cupboards and whatever he thought could contain valuables. He also removed the jewellery she was wearing. Then he spotted two gold earrings on Rahul.``He tried to remove them, but Rahul started crying,'' says a shattered Kalpana, breaking down every time she recounts the incident. ``The man simply picked up Rahul, went to the bathroom and threw him into a bucket. I struggled to free myself, but...''

For almost 30 minutes, she struggled with the ropes on her hands and the gag on her mouth. Her ordeal ended only when her maid-servant came. Neighbourssay they did not hear anything till Kalpana came running out andnarrated the incident. Rahul was taken to a nearby hospital, but was declared dead on arrival.

Investigations reveal at least five persons posing as courier men came to pocket-B, around the time of the attack. But another person, matching the description of Rahul's assailant, also came to the colony around the same time. He was driving a Maruti car with a Punjab registration number.

A security guard in the colony says: ``We note down the registration number of every car entering the colony. Also, every outsider coming to the colony has to register himself on the register. We remember talking to a Maruti driver, who came looking for directions.''

The police suspect that the robber was probably aware that Kalpana and Rahul are alone in the house during the day. ``We are going to question every outsider who had access to the house.''