Delhi: During investigation, police analysed footage from CCTV cameras. (Representational)
Four people, including a woman, have been arrested for allegedly stealing cash and valuables from the house of a high court judge here, police said on Thursday.
The accused have been identified as Sanjay Tiwari (34), a resident of Jasola, Ajay Rawat (36), a resident of Dakshinpuri, and Shartudhan Kumar (39) and Anjula Tiwari (39), both residents of Bihar, they said.
The police said Rs 1.40 lakh in cash and jewellery stolen from the house were recovered from the possession of the accused.
On May 30, the police received information about a robbery at a house in Greater Kailash-1 area, officials said.
The lock on the back door lock was found broken and the almirah on the first floor of the house was found open, a senior police officer said.
The complainant had gone out of station on May 1 and the house had been locked since then. However, on May 24, the relatives of the complainant visited the house for cleaning. On May 30, when they again reached the house for some work, they found the back door open, the officer said.
During investigation, police analysed footage from CCTV cameras and found that two persons had entered the premises from the back, officials said.
The police identified the accused and found Sanjay's location in Bihar's Sitamarhi while Rawat was in Mubarakpur here. The police nabbed Rawat and then Sanjay from a hotel in Sitamarhi, Deputy Commissioner of Police (south) Benita Mary Jaiker said.
Based on Sanjay's disclosure, Shatrudhan, who received the stolen items and works as a goldsmith, was also arrested from Sitamarhi. Almost all the stolen jewellery was recovered from him, police said.
The police also arrested Anjula, who is Sanjay's friend. Some jewellery and tools to break open houses were recovered from her disclosure as well, they said.
The accused conducted a recce of the area and saw the closed houses. They also checked whether the light of the house was switched on in the night or not, police said.
Elaborating on the modus operandi, police said the accused, after conducting the recee of the targeted houses, posed as electrician and plumbers and rang doorbells. If nobody answered, then they used to target that house, police said.
In this case, they noticed dust on the doors and established that the house was abandoned and committed burglary. They used various tools, including scissor, screw driver, iron rod, hammer etc, to commit the crime, police said.
Sanjay hails from Sitamarhi and was first apprehended in a case of theft along with Rawat in 2004 when he was juvenile, police said.
Later, he came in contact with other thieves and was involved in 16 cases of house theft and burglary in south district area, they said.