DOMBIVILI: Gutsy locals chased and caught three of eight armed robbers early on Sunday at Kopar in Dombivli (E). The robbers pelted the residents with stones and later attacked them with sickles, but the citizens displayed exceptional courage and stood their ground. Five of the citizens sustained injuries while trying to apprehend the robbers. Around 4am, former BJP MLA Harishchandra Patil (53) received a call from one of his neighbours about suspicious-looking men entering Yashomandir, the building opposite his bungalow. Patil immediately rang up the Ramnagar police station, but no one answered his call. He then decided to go to the building with his sons, Harshad (31), who is an MNS corporator, and Nishad (26). "The robbers were in vests and briefs. While some of them were on the terrace of Yashomandir, the others were standing outside the nearby Sagar Jyoti building," said Patil. "The robbers saw us and started throwing stones at us. They stopped only after I fired a round in air with my licenced revolver." Two other locals, Prathmesh Shinde (23) and Shreedhar Nalge (51), heard the gunshot and came to help the Patils. Just as the residents thought that they had managed to scare the criminals away, the eight robbers banded together and attacked them with sickles. "My elder son Harshad sustained gashes on his two fingers while Nishad was wounded on his face and left hand. I injured my legs in the fight," said Patil. Patil again fired two rounds in air, following which five of the robbers fled the spot while three ran up to the building's terrace. "We called people for help. A crowd surrounded the building. Two of the robbers tried to escape by jumping off the terrace from the rear end of the building, but we caught them," said Nishad. A little later, the police reached the spot. Locals allege that the men in khaki refused to go up to the terrace and they had to accompany the cops to nab the thrid accused. The arrested accused, Sunil Pawar (23), Suresh Shinde (23) and Shankar Shinde (23), are residents of Mandva taluka in Usmanabad district and had come to Dombivli by train, said ACP Mandaleshwar Kale. The injured citizens were admitted to Thakur Memorial Hospital for treatment. The police have found that the eight had burgled three houses in Sagar Jyoti and two in Yashomandir The police have recovered some of the stolen items from the arrested trio. MLA Ramesh Patil of the MNS has decided to highlight the police department's negligence during the upcoming assembly session. Senior inspector Yashwant Matkar said, "The locals' calls went unanswered as the police station's phone line has been disconnected due to non-payment of bill by the Thane commissioner's office."Matkar admitted that incoming calls were allowed, but the phone may not have worked due to a problem in the line. The incident has shocked to entire locality of Dombivli as this is first time when chadi baniyan gang members is famous for using their different modus operandi while looting houses had targeted in Dombivli city while in past normally they used to target rural area. Assistant commissioner of police (Dombivli) Mandaleshwar Kale, said, "It seems the gang The way gang had targeted five houses in both building it looks that before committing offence they had gather information about the family who is going outside city". The Ramnagar police and Kalyan Kalyan crime branch has launched hunt for the other five accused.