Advocate’s Friends Colony West home robbed of cash, silverware

The suspects were spotted on footage from CCTV cameras installed in and around the residential complex, which has 12 apartments, police said.

Two burglars broke into a Delhi high court advocate’s apartment in Friends Colony West in the early hours of Thursday and decamped with crockery, silverware, cash, and court documents, police said.

A senior police officer associated with the case said the burglary came to light when Ahlawat woke up around 5.30am and found crockery and silver missing from the kitchen. (iStock/HT Archive)

Senior advocate Avnish Ahlawat, an additional standing counsel in the court, was asleep in the ground floor of her apartment when the burglary took place around 4am. Her family was not in the city.

The suspects were spotted on footage from CCTV cameras installed in and around the residential complex, which has 12 apartments, police said.

Deputy commissioner of police (south-east) RP Meena said a case of house trespass and theft has been registered at the New Friends Colony police station, and several teams have been tasked to nab the suspects. When contacted, Ahlawat declined to comment.

A senior police officer associated with the case said the burglary came to light when Ahlawat woke up around 5.30am and found crockery and silver missing from the kitchen.

The kitchen window’s latch was bent, indicating that the robbers made their way in through it. Ahlawat informed the police about the incident, following which a crime spot inspection team and forensic experts reached her house.

“The boundary wall of the building is close to the railway tracks. Ahlawat’s apartment was locked from inside. The suspects scaled the boundary wall and entered the house. The involvement of an insider cannot be ruled out,” said an officer.

As per the contents of an FIR registered on Ahlawat’s complaint, apart from the silverware, the thieves stole nearly ₹20,000 in cash, two briefcases containing court papers and cheque books, some locker keys, and a pair of sports shoes.

The apartment where the burglary took place is several metres away from the main entry and exit gate of the residential complex where two security guards were on night duty. “They did not see or hear anything because of the distance,” an officer said.