Three men, including a suspended Military Engineering Services (MES) employee, have been arrested for allegedly carrying out burglaries at residences of Army officers in Delhi’s Cantonment, the police said on Tuesday.
Dharambir (54), a Fitter General Mechanic, was suspended in 2011. He used to facilitate entry of his associates in Cantonment in his car by showing his government ID card at sentry posts. The other accused have been identified as Deepak (30) and Dheeraj (22). The police claimed to have worked out five cases of burglary with their arrest.
On February 27, the gang burgled the homes of an Army and a Naval officer. They stole ₹15,000 from the home of the Army officer, and cameras and branded shoes, among other items, from the home of the Naval officer, said Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime) Bhisham Singh.
On December 23, they stole jewellery from an Army officer’s residence. On February 2, the accused stole jewellery worth ₹7 lakh from the home of another Army officer. The gang fled with an LED TV, laptop and utensils worth several lakhs of rupees from the bungalow of an Army officer posted in Doklam.
Keeping in view the recent incidents of daylight burglaries at residences of senior Army officers in Cantonment, the Military Intelligence, after conducting preliminary investigations, approached the Crime Branch for a joint operation, said the officer.
The accused were nabbed on the intervening night of March 18 and 19 from Sector-1, Dwarka, while on the way to dispose the stolen articles.
An officer said since Dharambir was not dismissed from service, he still had his identity card. He had joined the MES in 1988 and was first arrested in 1995, when he picked up a fight with an Army Captain. He was arrested in 2009 in a robbery case and was lodged in jail. Following his release, he started carrying out burglaries at the residences of Army officers and remained involved in about 18 cases of burglaries, among others, the officer said.
