Domestic help held for burglary at sculptor’s house

Noida: Noida Police arrested two men from Gurugram in connection with a burglary at renowned sculptor Ram Sutar’s house in sector 19 on March 9

Noida: Noida Police arrested two men from Gurugram in connection with a burglary at renowned sculptor Ram Sutar’s house in sector 19 on March 9. The stolen goods too were recovered.

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One of the suspects was a cook that the family had hired through an agency on March 3. According to police, he had stolen ₹25 lakh, jewellery and the sculptor’s Padma Bhushan medallion and other national medals.

“The same agency had provided us the previous cook as well. Due to a family issue, that person had to quit and the agency provided us with Madan Mohan Das who robbed us. Police has recovered all the goods and most of the money,” said Sameer Sutar, Ram’s grandson who was the complainant in the case.

Aling with Das, police arrested a man named Lokesh, who, police said, Das had met while in Haryana’s Bhondsi jail.

“They are a part of a larger gang. They associate themselves with agencies and e-portals and take on domestic jobs as cooks or servants. As soon as they get a chance, they burgle the houses and decamp with valuables. Then they join their accomplices in a different city where they carry out a similar crime,” said additional deputy commissioner of police, zone 1, Kumar Ranvijay Singh.

Police officials said that one of their accomplices worked in a house in Bengaluru.

“We are working on apprehending that person also and others associated with them. Das had planned to use the stolen money to purchase mines in Orissa after the heist in Bengaluru,” said Singh.

Police said that the suspects used ₹2.5 lakh to purchase new clothes, phones and pay off their debts.

Das also has an attempt to murder case from Odisha on him. Police is investigating other crimes committed by the suspects.

In order to blend in and get jobs quickly, the suspects were proficient in over 10 languages including English, Odiya and Marathi, among others.

They were produced before a magistrate and later sent to jail.