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Three states, boat ride amid heavy rain: How cops tracked two thieves

The complainant, Vedant Pathak, had lost his father to Covid-19 in May and the family was in Ayodhya to perform the last rites when the accused broke into their house in Northwest Delhi’s Subash Place on August 8.

Delhi Police, Delhi robbery, Delhi news, city news, Indian ExpressThe accused with some of the recovered loot

A boat ride through a lake amid heavy rain in UP, navigating waterlogged streets in Bihar, questioning multiple people — two teams of Delhi Police had their task cut out trying to track down two burglars, who fled the capital after stealing gold jewellery and Rs 12 lakh in cash.

The complainant, Vedant Pathak, had lost his father to Covid-19 in May and the family was in Ayodhya to perform the last rites when the accused broke into their house in Northwest Delhi’s Subash Place on August 8.

His sister Sudha said: “Our neighbour asked if we had returned as the lights in the kitchen and backyard were on. I told him that we were still in Ayodhya… He checked the house and said it was ransacked. We were worried as our jewellery and my father’s savings were inside his room.” The family came home to find their gold and silver jewellery and over Rs 12 lakh cash stolen.

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DCP (Northwest) Vijayanta Arya said, “We received a complaint and sent our teams to scan CCTV cameras. Footage showed two unknown men entering the locality, carrying bags. We found that they went to Shakurpur after committing the crime.” However, their faces were covered and there were no eyewitnesses.

An officer in the investigating team said, “One of the accused in the footage looked like a local history-sheeter called Nageshwar, who is involved in multiple burglaries and robberies. We sent a team to his house, who posed as jail officials. Nageshwar’s mother said he went to his village in UP.”

Festive offer

Similar raids were conducted at Nageshwar’s associate Chand Khan’s house. Police found he too went to his village in Bihar.

Two teams, headed by SHO Ashish Singh, were sent to Bihar and UP. In UP’s Maharajganj, amid heavy rain, the team had to take boat ride to get to the village. “However, the boat toppled midway. We were scared but managed to get to a safe spot. We reached Maharjganj but locals told us Nageshwar had gone back to Delhi,” said a police constable.

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Similarly, the police team that went to Bihar’s Khagaria district faced issues due to waterlogged streets and no transport — only to find Khan had also left for Delhi.

After days of technical surveillance, on August 14, police found that the two men were at the railway line in Shakurpur. The duo had come to meet their friends and drink and were arrested. SHO Singh said the team went back to UP and recovered the stolen jewellery and cash.

First uploaded on: 21-08-2020 at 05:25 IST
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