Juvenile burglar escapes again

He would strike again, he had said. A 17-year-old juvenile delinquent involved in over 1,500 house burglaries in south Delhi escaped on Thursday (for the fourth time) from an observation home in Mukherjee Nagar again, reports Vijaita Singh.

He would strike again, he had said. A 17-year-old juvenile delinquent involved in over 1,500 house burglaries in south Delhi escaped on Thursday (for the fourth time) from an observation home in Mukherjee Nagar again.

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Police said the juvenile, who committed the first burglary when he was 10 years old, leads a gang which targets locked houses in government colonies in south Delhi and later set them on fire to destroy evidence.

Police said they would step up security in these colonies following his escape.

In 2009, 17 such cases of arson were reported from areas like Sarojini Nagar, Laxmi Bai Nagar and Netaji Nagar.

“The juvenile fled with a seven more offenders from the home two days ago,” said NS Bundela, DCP (northwest).

On December 22, 2009 the South District police claimed to have apprehended the juvenile burglar and his 20-year-old associate Sanjay alias ‘Dai’, for allegedly robbing homes and setting them ablaze.

Soon after he was arrested in December, he had told the police he would strike again.

“Every time he is apprehended, he challenges the police. When we arrested him last time, he said he would strike again, soon,” said a senior south district police officer.

“By setting fire to burgled houses, they sought to destroy evidence. Moreover, it was a good omen for them,” police said.

“They wanted to create a separate identity for them through their bizarre modus operandi,” police said.