Family’s driver, three others held for Rs1 crore theft from Kavi Nagar house
The incident took place at the house of Raj Bhagwan Bansal, who along with his brother RN Bansal, runs a pipe factory near the Sahibabad border.
The Ghaziabad police Thursday cracked a major theft case in which cash and valuables amounting to over Rs1 crore were looted by a gang from the house of a factory owner in Kavi Nagar on the night of July 26. The police said the theft was planned and carried out by the family’s driver and his friends.
Police arrested the driver Bhag Chand (19), his associates Manish alias Mangal (23), Prince alias Nevla (21) and his father Mukesh Kumar. The police said they recovered jewellery worth ₹58 lakh, cash amounting to ₹49.45 lakh and a foreign made licensed revolver, besides some of the loot from the four suspects.
The incident took place at the house of Raj Bhagwan Bansal, who along with his brother RN Bansal, runs a pipe factory near the Sahibabad border. The brothers lived with their families in the two-storeyed bungalow in L Block of Kavi Nagar.
“We have recovered about 95% of the loot and more will be recovered after the suspects are taken on remand. Chand had been with the family since childhood and his father and mother had also worked with the family as domestic helps. Recently, Chand came in touch with Prince, who was friend of the other suspect, Mangal. Mangal got out of Dasna jail on July 23, where he was lodged in connection with a case. Later, Chand and the others planned the theft,” Prashant Kumar, additional director general (Meerut zone), said.
The police said the plan was hatched after Mangal came out of jail and Chand helped in getting a duplicate made of the main door key — the house is located near the Kavi Nagar police post.
Police said Chand alerted his accomplices that the family will be out on the night of July 26. Once Raj Bhagwan, his wife, children, grandchildren and his brother’s family left the house, Chand, who was driving one of the cars, gave three missed calls on his associates’ phones, the agreed upon signal that the house was empty.
Police said he drove the family to a dinner party at hotel Radisson, Kaushambi. Around 8.30pm, the other suspects reached the house and opened the main door using the duplicate key.
The suspects told police that they were taken aback by the huge amount of cash and valuables kept in the house and were trying to take it all away, when the family unexpectedly returned around 12.30am. The driver was unable to signal his friends about their return.
Quoting one of the arrested men, police said that the gang expected the family to return around 2am or 3 am. Afraid of being caught, they quickly tied a saree to the first floor balcony and escaped that way with whatever valuables they could manage to take.
After fleeing, the suspects kept some of the stolen valuables with Prince’s father Mukesh Kumar at their house in Razapur near Kavi Nagar. The police said after they picked up the driver for questioning, he allegedly broke down and told the police that he was in need of money and planned the theft along with his accomplices.
