In a shocking incident, two flats on the same floor opposite to each other were burgled in broad daylight on Thursday in Raj Empire, a posh high-rise in Rajnagar Extension, Ghaziabad.
Both the burglaries occurred when their occupants were not in the house. Over Rs 3 lakhs in cash and jewellery worth Rs 6 lakhs were stolen from both the flats collectively, claimed the residents.
The first incident was reported at around 1:30 pm when Neeta Sharma, the victim, returned home after picking up her 5-year-old daughter from school.
“My wife was shocked to see that the central lock of the main gate was broken. When she stepped inside, she found the entire house ransacked. Safety vault kept in the bedroom where we keep our cash and jewellery was lying empty and wide open,” said Prashant Sharma, owner of the house.
Sharma added that the robbery happened within a span of 30 minutes. “Neeta had left the house at 1 pm and returned half an hour later.”
In his complaint to the police, Sharma has reported a loss of Rs 2.7 lakhs in cash and jewellery worth Rs 3 lakhs missing. “I had kept the cash in the house to pay registry fee for my flat (the one that was burgled) to Ghaziabad Development Authority.” Prashant works as a manager in a private bank while Neeta is a housewife.
As soon as Neeta raised an alarm, neighbours gathered outside her house. This is when, they noticed that the central lock of the flat opposite to Sharma’s house was also lying broken.
Pushpa Kishore, owner of the second flat, said that she rushed to her house immediately after receiving a call from one of the neighbours. “All the rooms had been ransacked. When I entered my bedroom, I saw that the cupboard where we kept our cash and jewellery was open and the door of the safety vault was broken,” she said.
Pushpa has reported a loss of Rs 30,000 in cash and diamond and gold jewellery worth Rs 3 lakhs missing to police. “It feels like the thieves knew exactly when we would be away from our homes,” she said.
Pushpa claimed to have found a screwdriver from her flat, which doesn’t belong to her. Pushpa is a lawyer at the Supreme Court while her husband, Kishore Kumar, works under secretary at Ministry of Coal in central government.
Meanwhile, neighbours said they did not hear any noise coming from both the flats. "We did not hear even a feeble thud. This looks like the work of seasoned criminals," said Namita, one of the neighbors.
Surprisingly, there were multiple security lapses in the building. To start with, floors were not covered with electronic surveillance and no security guard was deployed in the tower to keep a record of people coming in.
Currently, the builder looks after the maintenance of the society. When City Spidey contacted Dheeraj Makkad, director at Jaivil Constructions Pvt ltd (developer of the society), he refused to comment on the issue of security lapses.
The security guards on duty also denied the possibility of anyone suspicious entering or leaving the society during the time robberies happened.
However, the supervisor of security raised suspicion over the possibility of involvement of construction workers in the incidents as a part of the society is still under construction.
Police has registered FIR under Sections 380 (theft in dwelling house) and 454 (house-trespass after preparation for hurt, assault or wrongful restraint) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). “We have procured the CCTV footage of entry and exit points during the time of the theft. The case is under investigation. However, no arrest has been made over suspicion, yet,” said a police official.
