Delhi Police busted a gang of 'godown busters' and arrested three burglars and another person who were involved in seven cases of burglaries of over Rs 3 crore here, police said on Thursday.
According to police, the gang members had on December 23, 2016, robbed a godown located in Mahipalpur area at South Delhi. One Dheeraj Aneja, a complainant, stated that 454 branded LED TVs were burgled by the robbers.
The accused have been identified as Ashok Kumar, 45, a resident of Rangpuri in Delhi, Ashok Kumar Malhotra, 29, a resident of Rajouri Garden in Delhi, Akhilesh Kumar, 22, and Vijeet Kumar, a native of Bihar.
They were arrested on Wednesday night from Champaran in Bihar following a police raid, police said.
"It was found in investigation that the stolen goods had been transported in two different trucks. After examination of the CCTV camera at the spot, police teams found three capital letters 'VTS' written at the back side of the truck in English," Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Ishwar Singh told IANS.
Singh said the police teams interrogated 200 transporters and finally zeroed down on a the suspected transporter in Mangolpuri area.
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"The suspected transporter revealed that the burgled articles had been transported to Patna in Bihar through a logistics services company. He also said that a gang of godown busters of Bihar may be involved in it. The gang members burgled goods in and around Delhi and took the robbed items to Bihar and onwards to the grey markets of Nepal," Singh added.
"On questioning, the accused revealed that they after careful recce of the target godown, inquired about the wares stored in it. They prepared fake papers purporting ownership of the goods they intended to steal. They then broke the original locks of the godown and later re-locked the godown with their own genuine locks," the officer said.
They would then pose as owners of the godown and get the goods loaded after the transporter labourers arrived at the godown. They also prepared fake papers showing sale purchase bills and tax receipts, Singh said.
The accused said they stored the robbed articles in a warehouse in Patna and sold it in grey markets. At the international border markets, the stolen goods were sold for 30-50 per cent of their true value. They accused earned good money to live a lavish life, police said.
--IANS
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