A 25-year-old repeat offender was held for committing two burglaries in Dwarka and Kirti Nagar, within 10 days of his release from a Delhi jail, from Amritsar in Punjab. Three of his associates, including a juvenile and a sibling of the main accused, were held for helping him dispose of the stolen jewellery.
The accused was identified as Shivam Sonkar, and his associates as Siddarth Sonkar, 21, Ashwani Kumar, 48, a jeweller who helped dispose of the stolen goods, and a minor. The police recovered ₹15 lakh from the jeweller, suspected to be the gains from melting and selling stolen gold, ₹21.07 lakh in all from the four, besides eight wristwatches and three phones, deputy commissioner of police (west) Vichitra Veer said.
The probe into the burglaries was taken up on a complaint lodged by a 76-year-old resident of Kirti Nagar on March 30, who alleged that his house was burgled while he was away with his family at Rajouri Garden. He said the incident took place between 1pm and 3.45pm, with ₹10 lakh, gold and diamond jewellery, wristwatches, mobile phones and other valuables missing.
After registering a complaint, the police scanned CCTV camera footage on a 15-kilometre stretch between Kirti Nagar and Jahangirpuri, in which they found that the suspect fled the house in an e-rickshaw and reached Jahangirpuri after changing three auto-rickshaws. There, he handed over the bag of stolen goods to his two associates.
“Shivam is a habitual offender, previously involved in at least 16 burglaries and thefts. He was released from jail on March 18. Our team raided his house and found him absconding. The team members arrested his brother, Siddharth, and apprehended the minor boy. A part of the stolen cash, jewellery and wristwatches were recovered from them,” Veer said.
The police said that questioning Siddarth led them to Ashwani Kumar, the jeweller based in Jahangirpuri.
“Further probe revealed that Shivam had fled to Amritsar. Raids were conducted at various places and he was finally arrested from Amritsar. His interrogation revealed that he had committed another burglary in Dwarka on the afternoon of March 28,” Veer said.
