Robbers steal TV set top box, mistaking it for a CCTV recorder
The incident took place around 1.30 pm on Saturday, when the shopkeeper, Gulshan, was alone at the shop. Police said that initially two men, pretending to be customers, entered the shop and began going through jewellery.
Four pistol-wielding men robbed ornaments and cash worth Rs 26 lakh from a jewellery shop in outer Delhi’s Begumpur on Saturday afternoon. They also stole a set-top box, thinking it was the CCTV’s digital video recorder, the device that stores all its data, the police said.
The real DVR, which was left behind, contained clear images of the robbers, allowing investigators to identify one of the suspects within moments of viewing the footage.
“Footage from the CCTV camera has helped us identify the suspects, and we have formed a team to arrest them,” said SD Mishra, deputy commissioner of police (Rohini).
The incident took place around 1.30pm on Saturday, when the shopkeeper, Gulshan, was alone at the shop. Police said that initially two men, pretending to be customers, entered the shop and began going through jewellery.
CCTV footage showed that two other men walked into the jewellery outlet and joined their two partners. None of them were wearing masks or had covered their faces.
Three of them were carrying pistols, which they kept on the counter to frighten the shopkeeper, and later used to beat him up with when he resisted the robbery.
Over the next few moments, one of the suspects thrashed the shopkeeper while the others began cleaning the shop of jewellery and cash.
“They managed to steal jewellery worth ₹25 lakh and ₹1 lakh in cash. But a lot of jewellery was saved as the robbers weren’t able to break open the safe,” Mishra said.
The footage also showed two of the men looking around to spot CCTV cameras. While it wasn’t clear whether or not they found the cameras, one of them found a device that he mistook for the CCTV’s DVR. He removed it and put it in his bag, unaware that it was a set-top box.
When the robbers left with the loot, the police were alerted, and soon found the DVR intact and recovered the footage from it.
