Birder’s SUV stolen from outside Okhla sanctuary

Noida: A Gurugram-based birder has alleged that his SUV was stolen from outside the Okhla Bird Sanctuary on Sunday morning

Noida: A Gurugram-based birder has alleged that his SUV was stolen from outside the Okhla Bird Sanctuary on Sunday morning.

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Padmanav Kundu, the complainant, had come to Noida in his Toyota Fortuner SUV to visit the sanctuary. Police said that on the basis of his complaint, a case was registered at Sector 39 police station.

Kundu said that he had parked his vehicle around 7.30am near gate number 1 of the sanctuary. “I came to know that there had been a sighting of a lesser fish eagle in the area on Saturday. I was hoping to see one myself and that is why I had come to Okhla sanctuary in the morning,” he said.

“When I came out around 11.20am, my SUV was not there. There had been other vehicles parked around my SUV and they were all there except my vehicle. There was a piece of broken glass lying near the place where I had parked my vehicle, suggesting that the thieves had broken into my SUV,” said Kundu.

Police said that they have launched an investigation in the case. “There were security guards at the gate who said that they didn’t see or hear anything. The CCTV camera installed at the gate turned out to be defunct. We spotted the vehicle at 7.16am near the Okhla barrage in one of our police post cameras, but there is no footage of the vehicle afterwards,” said Rajesh S, deputy commissioner of police, zone 1.