The residence of a senior government official was burgled and later set ablaze by unidentified assailants on Saturday night with the police suspecting the involvement of the infamous juvenile leader of the “steal-arson gang” who recently escaped from a rehabilitation home in north Delhi.
According to the police, the incident was reported from the residence of Ms Abha Topo in Bharat Nagar at around 12.45 am.
“Ms Abha and her husband Ashit were away on a family vacation and the house was lying vacant. When they came back on Saturday night, they found the lock of the main door broken and the house was ransacked. The assailants had also set fire to a room in the house,” said Additional DCP (north-west) B.S Jaiswal.
The police said that the assailants had broken open the front door lock to gain entry into the house and looted some jewellery and cash before setting fire to a bed and a sofa in the living room. “They fled with a laptop in addition to Rs 7,000 in cash and silver and gold ornaments,” the official said. The incident happened a fortnight after the leader of the infamous “steal-arson gang” escaped from an observation home in Mukherjee Nagar area on May 16.
“The modus operandi is identical to that of the juvenile gang leader who targeted government officials’ homes in south Delhi,” a senior police officer said.
The leader of “steal-arson gang” is suspected of being involved in more than 100 cases of arson-cum-burglary in south Delhi. A case of burglary has been registered at the Bharat Nagar police station.
“We have registered a case and are not ruling out the involvement of the juvenile gang. The matter is under investigation,” Mr Jaiswal added.
A team from the north-west district has been sent to the Sarojini Nagar police station to ascertain whether the case bore any resemblance to the cases reported from the government staff colonies in south Delhi.
Ms Abha Topo works as head of the video-conferencing unit at the Tis Hazari District Courts Complex in north Delhi.