A Delhi University student has been apprehended today in connection with the burglary at Holy Child Auxilium School in South Delhi's Vasant Vihar area in February this year.
"The juvenile in conflict with law in connection with this incident was a minor on the day of commitment of the crime. He was produced before a Juvenile Board today and sent to a juvenile home," said DCP (South) Prem Nath.
The juvenile is a native of Manipur and he is at present pursuing Bachelor of Arts degree at a reputed college of Delhi University. He was apprehended after his fingerprint matched with one of the 26 samples collected from the site.
According to police, the incident took place in wee hours of February 13 when burglars had allegedly scaled walls, broke into the principal's room, snapped CCTV wired and taken away around Rs 12,500 in cash and a few confiscated mobile phones.
The incident had grabbed the headlines, after which the Prime Minister's Office summoned Delhi Police Commissioner B S Bassi for a briefing on a series of attacks on Christian institutes, including the burglary at the school, of which Union HRD Minister Smriti Irani is an alumna.
The police had ruled out any probability of vandalism in the incident as sacred symbols and pictures on the premises of the institution were intact and left undamaged.
When the local police couldn't track the accused till March 6, the case was handed over to the Special Task Force of Delhi Police's South District and a team was formed under inspector Rajender Singh.
The team sent around 26 fingerprint samples to Central Forensic Science Laboratory, CBI and SCRBs (State Crime Record Bureau) for matching all the prints with those of records available in their bureaus. But nothing turned up, said a police official.
Later, the police sent fingerprint samples of several persons who were recently arrested for alleged burglaries in school and the modus operandi were found to be similar.
One of them matched with that of a 19-year-old man - identified as Rahul Moirangthem - who was arrested by the police earlier in connection with an alleged burglary attempt at south Delhi's Mount Carmel School, from which the youth had graduated.
Rahul was arrested on July 12 and during interrogation he revealed names of two Manipur residents as his accomplices -- one Goulin and the juvenile. Police took fingerprints of both Goulin and the juvenile and sent it for matching with chance prints of Holy Child Auxilium School.
The report of Finger Print Bureau, CFSL, received on September 8, disclosed that fingerprint of the juvenile is identical and match with one of the fingerprints developed from the outside gate of administrative room of Holy Child Auxilium School.
