Three burglars wanted in over 50 cases arrested in Noida

Noida: Police on Friday night arrested three persons for their alleged involvement in over 50 cases of burglaries across the national capital region (NCR)

Noida: Police on Friday night arrested three persons for their alleged involvement in over 50 cases of burglaries across the national capital region (NCR). Police said that some stolen goods, two countrymade guns and an SUV, among others, have been recovered from their possession.

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The suspects were identified as Sanjay Pahadia, 35, from Agra; Javed, 40, from Nangloi in New Delhi and Suresh, 32, from Sangam Vihar in New Delhi. According to police, the gang, which was active since 2013, had recently committed burglaries in three houses at Jalvayu Vihar in Sector 25, and also in some houses in Sector 30.

Rajesh S, deputy commissioner of police, Noida Zone 1, said that the Sector 20 police had identified the suspects’ SUV -- a Mahindra XUV 500 -- which had entered the Jalvayu Vihar society a few days ago. “On Friday night, a police team was conducting check in Sector 6. The police received information about movement of burglars in the SUV. The team stopped the SUV for checking and recovered some silver and gold jewellery, a branded watch worth about ₹1.5 lakh, two countrymade guns, four live cartridges, and one knife, among other things,” he said.

The police have also recovered one fake registration number plate, a toolkit to break locks, eight mobile phones and two wi-fi dongles from the three suspects.

As many as 52 cases of burglaries are registered against the suspects, police said, adding that 45 cases are lodged in Delhi while seven in Noida.

Explaining the gang’s modus operandi, police said that the suspects, Pahadia and Suresh, used to visit different societies on pretext of representatives of a water purifier company. “They used to knock the doors at different houses and enquire if they needed water purifier. This way they conducted recce of these houses. If they did not get any response from inside, they believed there was no one in the house,” the DCP said.

Pahadia then used to call Javed inside the society with the SUV. Pahadia and Javed used to break the locks and conduct the burglaries while Suresh used to stand guard outside the house, police said.

The DCP said the suspects used dongle’s wi-fi to connect each other instead of mobile phone to evade surveillance. They used to sell the stolen valuables to people at cheap rates in Delhi-NCR, and sometimes they also sold the jewellery to some jewellers, he said.

Police said that Pahadia, a class 10 drop-out, is known as ‘super thief’ in his circle and speaks English fluently. “Pahadia had also bought a flat worth ₹60 lakh in a housing society in Greater Noida West using the stolen money. The police will charge the suspects under Gangster Act and also seize their properties,” the DCP said.

The three suspects were produced in court on Saturday and sent to judicial custody.