Cash, jewellery worth ₹50L stolen from house on NCERT Delhi campus

This is the fourth such incident on the campus reported since last August, police officers said

NEW DELHI

Residents said this is the fourth burglary reported since last August. (Representative photo)

Cash and jewellery worth around ₹50 lakh were burgled from the residence of NCERT undersecretary at Sri Aurobindo Marg early Sunday, marking the fourth such incident on the campus reported since last August, police officers aware of the matter said.

The undersecretary, Mahavir Singh, in his complaint to the police, said that ₹1.5 lakh, 500 grams of silver, and about 300 grams of gold were stolen. Deputy commissioner of police (south west) Amit Goel said that they have registered a case and teams are working on the case.

Singh’s daughter Alisha Mural, 31, a junior project fellow with the NCERT, told HT that her father was not at home at the time of the incident and she had stepped out for a few hours, and returned around 2.30am. “When I returned, I saw our lock had been broken and the house was ransacked. Jewellery and cash from the safe was gone. It felt like they had left in a hurry because they left their tools behind and even a purse with some money in it,” she said.

Mural said that the suspects had locked the houses of other residents of the building to ensure they could not exit or aid the victims. “They also left behind a cloth they had wiped our floor, to not leave any clue behind,” she said.

At least three cases of trespassing and burglaries have been reported since August last year on the campus, according to residents, despite having over 80 security guards and 57 CCTV cameras covering the campus.

Ravidener Dagar, 57, section officer, NCERT, a victim of burglary last August, said that the suspects decamped with cash and jewellery worth ₹10 lakh from his residence when he and his wife were away. Both Dagar and Mural said that the suspects left all other valuables, including expensive watches and laptops, behind and only took cash and jewellery.

At least two burglaries were reported in the early hours of April 27 as well.

“We suspect the involvement of insiders in this as it’s supposed to be a safe campus with so many security guards. The suspects also seem to know the houses to target as they only enter the ones where no one is present. They also ensure they are not captured by the CCTV cameras,” Mural said.

A senior police officer, who did not wish to be named, said, “Forensic teams have visited the spot. When we checked, several cameras were not working and while the suspects can be seen from a distance, their faces are not visible”.