Over 3 days, burglars empty Ghaziabad house while family was away on vacation

When the family returned, they found the house nearly empty. CCTV footage showed the thieves surveilling the house several times to see if the family was away

Four men were arrested in Ghaziabad on Wednesday for stealing household items from a locked house in Garhi on three consecutive nights on July 23, 24 and 25 while the family was away on vacation, police officers said, adding that the suspects nearly emptied the house.

The suspects with the recovered stolen items in Ghaziabad on Wednesday. (HT Photo)

The complaint in this case was filed by Saurabh Kumar, the homeowner, after which a first information report was registered under Section 380 (theft) of the Indian Penal Code at Nandgram police station.

“When we returned from vacation on July 27, we found our house nearly empty — no household items were left inside. The thieves had stolen almost everything, including LPG cylinders and jewellery,” said Kumar.

“CCTV footage showed that the burglars surveilled our house several times on different dates to check if we hadn’t returned home. Then they came to our house at midnight and left at 4am on July 23, 24 and 25. They did not enter from the main gate, which remained closed. Instead, they jumped from a nearby vacant plot boundary wall into the house at night and broke the inner gate. They took almost everything and emptied the entire house in three days,” Kumar said, adding that the stolen items were valued at about ₹5-6 lakh.

Several teams were assembled to conduct the investigation, and the suspects were identified using local intelligence and CCTV footage as Mukhlal, 42, Ravi Kumar, 25, Karan Singh, 30, and Hari Gopal Verma, 42.

According to the police, the gang learned in late July about the locked house and that its occupants were away.

“On July 23, 24, and 25, the gang targeted the house thrice at night. Mukhlal, the gang’s leader, is a repeat offender with 35 cases in Ghaziabad and seven in Meerut. He is also the subject of a case under the Arms Act and another under the Gangsters Act. He has been committing thefts since 2008 and has amassed property in Ghaziabad. His properties were seized in 2021, but he claimed to have hidden a portion of the looted money and jewellery in a pit,” said Nipun Agarwal, deputy commissioner of police (city).

According to the police, Ravi and Karan are Mukhlal’s brothers-in-law, while Verma is a Muradnagar-based jeweller who purchased looted items from the gang.

“Mukhlal has a 12-year-old child. He claimed that he continued to steal because of his child’s illness. Mukhlal also enlisted the help of his relatives, Rafiq and Rashid (a resident of Garhi who provided the tip-off about the locked house to Mukhlal) and Shahzad, a local scrap dealer in Nandgram,” DCP Agarwal added.

The police said they were looking for Rafiq, Rashid, and Shehzad.