Four men, including a Nepal national, who allegedly attempted to burgle a gold loan finance company's office in Delhi's Shalimar Bagh were arrested, police said on Monday.
The accused were identified as Panchu Ram Mandal, Pheku Basak, Mohijur, residents of Jharkhand and Nirjan Joshi, a resident of Nepal, they said.
Police got a tip-off about some suspicious persons who had recently moved into the area, following which they checked around the Manappuram Gold loan office on Sunday at around 2.30 pm, a senior police officer said.
"At the office's back side, they saw Joshi standing outside a godown and on seeing the police, he ran inside the godown. Police chased Joshi and apprehended him. They checked inside the godown and found three persons making a manhole and trying to break the wall with help of spades. Later, they were also apprehended," said Vijayanta Arya, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Northwest).
Interrogation revealed that the accused hatched a conspiracy with their associate who had a complete knowledge about the finance company's office at Singalpur village in Shalimar Bagh and its surrounding area, the DCP said.
They took a godown, situated behind the Manappuram office, on rent around 10 days ago. They started breaking the wall of godown which led them into the bathroom of the office, the officer said.
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They made a manhole inside the wall. The accused were arrested when they were about to enter their targeted office. The lockers in the premises reportedly contained around 18 kg gold and Rs 5 lakh cash along with other valuables, they said.
A case was registered against Kamal Dahiya, the owner of the rented premises, for not conducting tenant verification.
One country-made pistol, one live cartridge and some equipment used for housebreaking were recovered from their possession, police said, adding that efforts are being made to arrest the absconding accused.