Ghaziabad: A gang of thieves on Monday decamped with ₹9 lakh in cash and jewellery worth about ₹35 lakh from the Lohiya Nagar residence of a trader who deals in paints. The police said the family had gone out on Monday morning when the burglary took place. Police have not ruled out the role of an insider in the crime.
The theft took place at the house of Sanjeev Kumar Singhal, who has a paint business in Govindpuram, while his brother has a hardware shop on GT Road. According to the family members, they had left home around 11.15am on Monday for a function at their relative’s house in Govindpuram and returned only by 5pm.
Singhal said, “I and my brother, our families and our mother live together at our Lohiya Nagar residence. After we returned around 5pm, I tried to open the main door but found it locked from inside. I sensed something was arong . Then I went to the rear of the house to the service entrance and found that door had been broken open,” Singhal said.
“After entering the house we found that the rooms on the ground floor were ransacked and all almirahs and lockers broken into. There was about ₹9 lakh cash in the house, apart from jewellery worth about ₹35 lakh. All of it was taken away. Besides these items, some expensive watches, sarees and other items were also found stolen,” he said.
{{/usCountry}}“After entering the house we found that the rooms on the ground floor were ransacked and all almirahs and lockers broken into. There was about ₹9 lakh cash in the house, apart from jewellery worth about ₹35 lakh. All of it was taken away. Besides these items, some expensive watches, sarees and other items were also found stolen,” he said.
{{/usCountry}}He said the thieves did not go to the first floor of the house and escaped with the items kept in the rooms in the ground floor.
The family immediately informed the Sihani Gate police and also gave a written complaint.
“Based on the complaint we have registered an FIR. A team has been roped in to check the CCTV footage. The house where the burglary took place had no CCTV cameras, but other houses nearby have some cameras. We suspect the role of a person known to the family as the burglars seemed to be aware of the family’s movements,” Shlok Kumar, superintendent of police (city), said.