Burglary bid foiled, four arrested in Delhi’s Shalimar Bagh

The police on Monday arrested four suspected burglars, including a Nepal citizen, and claimed to have foiled a burglary of a gold finance company in northwest Delhi’s Shalimar Bagh.

The police said the four men were caught red-handed, while they were breaking a wall of the gold finance company’s office and were about to enter the premises. They had planned to break a locker that contained 18 kilograms of gold, ₹5 lakh and other valuables, the police said.

Those arrested were identified as Panchu Ram Mandal, Pheku Basak, Mohijur, of Sahibganj in Jharkhand, and Nirjan Joshi of Nepal. The police recovered a countrymade pistol with one cartridge and house breaking equipment from the four.

The deputy commissioner of police (northwest) Vijayanta Arya said that the arrests came during the tenant verification drive in resettlement colonies.

During one such drive, a team of the Shalimar Bagh police received information about a few men, who had recently rented a godown and a house. The information was developed and it was learnt that the men were often seen entering a godown, which is to the rear of the gold finance company’s office.

Around 2.30pm on Sunday, the team checked around the building and found a man standing outside the godown. Seeing the police party, the man, Joshi, ran inside, but was caught.

“Our team members checked the godown and found two men making a hole in the wall using spades. Another man was standing nearby with a spade in his hand. They were arrested,” said Arya.

During questioning, the DCP said, the arrested men said they had planned to burgle the gold finance company office with the help of a person who had details of the office and its surroundings.

“They rented the godown on rent so that they could bore a hole and enter the finance company office without getting caught. They chose Sunday since it was an off day. We are now looking for the person who played a key role in the planning,” said an investigator.