New Delhi
A group of five masked burglars, wearing no clothing except for their underwear, made off with jewellery and valuables worth lakhs of rupees from a house in Pocket 3&4 of Sector D in Vasant Kunj in the early hours, according to police, who added that the suspects were captured in CCTV cameras installed around the house.
Police said the modus operandi was similar to that of the “kachcha baniyan gang” of the 1990s, linked with a spate of robbery-murders and that they are ascertaining the details of the suspects. The incident took place on Tuesday, when the couple and their two children were asleep, police said.
Deputy commissioner of police (southwest) Amit Goel confirmed the burglary but refused to delve into details of the suspects, victims or the stolen items.
A resident of the locality, who asked not to be identified, said that the burglary at the couple’s house, who are in their 50s, took place between 2am and 2.30am on Tuesday, and the family found out when they woke up and found their room door locked. They opened the door with spare keys.
The resident said, “The couple came out of their room and found the house ransacked. The jewellery kept in the cupboard was missing. They found a window open, suggesting that thieves had broken into the house.”
A second resident, who did not wish to be named either, said that the CCTV cameras were scanned and at least five suspects were seen in the area. “At least four of them were in their undergarments. Their faces were covered with clothes. We suspect that the burglars entered our society by scaling the boundary wall,” the resident said.
This is the second such burglary reportedly committed by partially clothed masked burglars in south Delhi in the past two months. On May 1, a group of partially clothed masked burglars, donning only undergarments, vests, gloves and socks, made off with ₹27,000, a silver bowl, brass plates and household appliances from a first-floor flat of a multi-storeyed residential building in Sarvodaya Enclave, near Malviya Nagar. The footage of the crime was captured on a CCTV camera installed in the flat.
Four days later, the police arrested six people after an exchange of fire in which three of them suffered bullet injuries.
