Burglars who planted wives as maids to pass info on vacant houses held

New Delhi, Dec 15 (IANS) Delhi Police have busted an interstate gang of burglars that used to plant their wives as maids so that they can pass on the information about vacant houses to them.

"The female family members of the gangs used to work as maids in the colonies of the Trans Yamuna Area. Being familiar to these houses they used to give inputs and whereabouts of the nearby areas and of the victims to the gang members," said an official here. The gang members also used to target those houses who are found locked.

According to the official, an FIR was registered under sections 380, 457 and 34 of the Indian Penal Code at Jagatpuri police station where the complainant stated that a cash of Rs 5 lakh and jewellery have been stolen from his house while he was outside home in an engagement function of his daughter.

During the probe, the cops on December 9, with the help of technical surveillance and local intelligence nabbed one burglar identified as Subhan Khan, 32, who was involved in the burglary and recovered cash and a huge quantity of burgled jewellery and other stolen articles from his house.

During interrogation he kept on denying his involvement but when the accused was interrogated on the basis of technical evidence and available CCTV footage, he broke down and accepted his involvement in the case.

During the course of interrogation, accused Subhan disclosed that he along with one Shahadat, Arshad and Sahin had committed the said burglary. He further disclosed that he is involved in many cases of burglary in the Trans Yamuna Area.

The police team further laid a trap to apprehend other burglars at their hideouts. During the process the team went to the hideout of accused Shahdat at E-44 Jhuggi, Seemapuri where he was not found, however, the team got the information that he had booked an air ticket for Bengaluru to evade his arrest and will leave Delhi in an hour or two. The team immediately rushed towards IGI airport and with the help of Airport authorities apprehended the accused Shahdat just before boarding the aeroplane.

During interrogation Shahadat revealed he was out on bail since March 2021 and his involvement in 18 cases of burglary at different police stations of Delhi. On his instance one semiautomatic pistol, a huge quantity of burgled jewellery, cash, house breaking equipment, and other articles were recovered from his house.

He further disclosed the location of his co-accused Sahin, who was then apprehended at his instance. The cops further mapped the night locations of the gang.

As per the night locations and the disclosure of accused persons, it was found that they were involved in 42 incidents of burglary in Shahdara District since April 2021 when the accused Shahdat came out of jail on bail.