Thief robs King’s Court flat in Delhi’s GK-2 of watches, jewellery worth ₹2 cr

He made off with a laundry list of top-end timepieces, including a Rolex, a Balmain, a Chopard, a Roger Dubuis, a Hublot, a Bulgari, a Montblanc, a Cartier and other so far unidentified gold and diamond-studded watches.

A 27-year-old man has been arrested for breaking into a flat in the upscale DLF King’s Court apartment complex in south Delhi’s Greater Kailash-2, and stealing luxury watches and jewellery worth over ₹2 crore, police officers said on Wednesday.

The suspect was identified as Shoaib (he goes by a single name), who earlier worked as an office help in the house he targeted. He also stole jewellery and any money he could lay his hands on, said the police. (Representative image)

He made off with a laundry list of top-end timepieces, including a Rolex, a Balmain, a Chopard, a Roger Dubuis, a Hublot, a Bulgari, a Montblanc, a Cartier and other so far unidentified gold and diamond-studded watches.

However, in the dark about the value of the high-end products he’d stolen, the suspect held on to them as he looked for places to pawn them off and make enough money “to drink and gamble”, said the police.

As a result, during his arrest on Tuesday evening, the police recovered all the stolen watches and jewellery from him.

The suspect was identified as Shoaib (he goes by a single name), who earlier worked as an office help in the house he targeted. He also stole jewellery and any money he could lay his hands on, said the police.

“He didn’t realise the worth of the watches he had stolen. For instance, he was trying to sell a ₹15 lakh watch for ₹30,000 to ₹50,000. He knew they were expensive but not how much,” said an investigator, who asked not to be named.

Deputy commissioner of police (south) Chandan Chaudhary said Shoaib was involved in six other criminal cases earlier.

“He was convicted for theft a few years ago and was earlier imprisoned for five years in connection with an attempt-to-murder case,” said another investigator.

The police were informed about the crime on Monday morning by a Delhi high court advocate, who reported a theft at his nephew’s house in King’s Court.

The owner of the flat, left for a vacation abroad with his family on December 23, said the police. Their help, Pradeep, was asked to take care of the house till they returned.

“When he reached the flat on Monday morning, he found it ransacked, and valuables missing,” said Chaudhary.

The house owner returned on Tuesday and shared a list of the missing items with police.

The police zeroed in on the suspect using footage from over 40 CCTV cameras installed in and around the society.

“His location was tracked to Azadpur bus stand and we apprehended him when he was about to leave Delhi on Tuesday night,” she said.

Shoaib, who worked at the home office located in the flat,was let go about a year-and-a-half ago. But he knew that the family would be on vacation during Christmas, said officers involved in the investigation.

The suspect used his intricate knowledge of the society, and their flat, to his advantage as he went through with his plan.

He scaled the King’s Court boundary wall, used an access card to enter the building, and headed to the fifth floor flat, said the police. It is still unclear how he got hold of an access card, which is usually limited to residents.

Once outside the flat, he smashed through a window to get in.

“When he couldn’t find anything valuable in the rooms, he decided to break open the strong room, but couldn’t open the door. He tried to break the false ceiling as well, assuming he could make his way into the strongroom through the ceiling. He then climbed down to the fourth floor through a shaft on the side of the building, which was linked with another shaft near the strongroom’s window. He climbed back up to the fifth floor using this other shaft and broke the window to get in,” said an investigator.

The police are also investigating how Shoaib escaped undetected if the footage from society’s CCTV cameras were being monitored.

He entered the house around 11.30pm on Sunday night and spent about five or six hours, before leaving the same way he came in.

“It’s also not clear why nobody heard the sounds of windows being shattered,” said the first investigator.

Noting that several VIPs live in the GK-2 complex, the police have written to DLF asking them for security details.

A DLF representative, who asked not to be named, said a separate agency is in charge of security on the premises.

The second investigator said that Shoaib was trying to find places to sell what he stole until he was arrested. He also drank and gambled using the money he had stolen.

Police have recovered 12 watches, four pieces of jewellery and three electronic items from his possession.