Fruit seller held for stealing ₹25 lakh worth jewellery from Patel Nagar house

Delhi Police arrested a 23-year-old fruit seller for a burglary in Patel Nagar, recovering stolen cash and jewelry worth ₹25 lakh.

Delhi Police claimed to have arrested a 23-year-old fruit seller who allegedly barged into a locked house in central Delhi’s Patel Nagar and fled with around ₹10,000 cash and gold and silver jewellery worth ₹25 lakh earlier this week. Police said an officer impersonated a fruit vendor to arrest the accused.

The accused had left the locker in an under-construction flat in the same building because he could not handle the weight, police said. (Representative photo)

The accused has been identified as a resident of Darbhanga. Interrogation led to the recovery of a 25kg locker which the man had stolen, some jewellery which was artificial, and ₹ 920 cash. He had left the locker in an under-construction flat in the same building because he could not handle the weight, said deputy commissioner of police (central) Rohit Rajbir Singh.

On Tuesday, the Ranjeet Nagar police station received a call complaining of a burglary at a house in South Patel Nagar around 6am. The complainant reported about the theft of a locker containing gold and silver jewellery and ₹5,000– ₹10,000 cash. A case of burglary was registered and investigation was taken up.

During inspection at the house, the station house officer (SHO) of the police station and his team members found a mobile phone from the bathroom. The phone did not belong to the family. Later, someone called on the phone and identified himself as the nephew of a fruit seller.

To arrest the accused, head constable Vikas posed as a fruit vendor and lured the nephew to meet him and collect the phone.

“While interrogating the nephew, he told the personnel that the phone belonged to his uncle. Thereafter, our team conducted raids, arrested the fruit sellee from Baljeet Nagar, and recovered the stolen items,” DCP Singh said.