Delhi: Man held for robbing house by impersonating saree hawker

A man was arrested for robbing a house in Shahdara, Delhi, by posing as a saree hawker. Two accomplices remain at large, police report.

A man was arrested for robbing a house in Shahdara, northeast Delhi last week by impersonating a hawker of sarees and suits, police said on Friday. The accused’s two associates are still on the run, police added.

During the probe, investigators scanned CCTV cameras installed around the building. (Representational image)

The accused was identified as Mohammad Salman, police said. The burglary was reported to police by the victim’s family on August 19, police said.

“The incident took place in Mansarovar Park in Shahdara. The 51-year-old complainant, Lalit Kumar, said that he and his wife work in private firms in Paharganj. On August 19, the couple and their son went to work in the morning after locking their house. Around 3 pm, their neighbour called and told them that their house lock was broken. The family members immediately returned and found their house ransacked. Around ₹30,000 cash and gold and diamond jewellery worth a few lakh rupees were stolen from the house,” said deputy commissioner of police (Shahdara) Prashant Gautam.

Based on the family’s complaint, a case was registered at the MS Park police station the same day.

During the probe, investigators scanned CCTV cameras installed around the building, said DCP Gautam. They found two hawkers selling sarees and women’s suits on a scooter. One of them stood outside the victims’ house on the pretext of selling the items while the other broke into the house and returned after some minutes. Then they fled the neighbourhood, said police.

“Through technical investigation and human intelligence gathering, we identified the scooter owner as Ravish (one name), a resident of Pasaonda near Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh. Ravish is missing. We also learnt that Ravish’s brother Suhail has a criminal past. Further probe led to the arrest of Mohammad Salman, a resident of Muzaffarnagar in UP, from Delhi’s Sunder Nagri in the early hours of August 23,” added the DCP.