The burglary at Nobel laureate Kailash Satyarthi’s house grabbed the full attention of the police and locals on Tuesday, so much so that little heed was paid to the fact that two other houses — number 53 and 99 — in the area were also broken into on Monday night.
While house number 73 of the Aravali Apartments in south Delhi’s Alaknanda, which belongs to Mr. Satyarthi, was cordoned off by the police and surrounded by scores of curious onlookers, the other burgled houses wore a deserted look.
Joyita Sen, who owns two houses in the area and rents out one of them, said that house number 53, which she lets out, was broken into the same night.
Ms. Sen said she had come down from her house after a crowd gathered outside Mr. Satyarthi’s residence around 10a.m. on Tuesday. As she was looking around, she realised that the lock of her other house was also broken.
“I live above Mr. Satyarthi’s house. Our other house is rented by a bachelor. On seeing the broken lock, I called up the tenant to inquire what happened. He said he was in Shimla and had locked the house before he left. That’s when I got to know that our house had also been looted,” Ms. Sen said.
As the police teams ran in and out of Mr. Satyarthi’s house, Ms. Sen tried to get the officers to check her house too. “I have been standing here since morning. None of the officers have even entered my house to see what has been stolen,” Ms. Sen said.
The houses of Mr. Satyarthi and Ms. Sen are in the same block, which is near gate number 5 of the colony. The neighbourhood has 18 gates, out of which eight are kept open during the day — from 5a.m. to 11p.m. — and the rest are permanently locked.
The occupants of house number 99 could not be contacted.
Neighbours said that the community centre near the colony is a major source of menace and a safety concern for residents. On Monday evening, the community centre had a wedding. Around 11p.m., after the gates of the colony were closed, a baraat crossed the area amid fireworks and loud music.
“Whenever there is a function there, we can barely hear ourselves. In that noise anyone could slip inside and loot the house and we wouldn’t hear anything,” said Savitri Malhotra, a resident.
Though the neighbourhood has CCTV cameras installed around the colony, one of which is placed right across Mr. Satyarthi’s house, the safety arrangements have been a matter of concern for the residents.
A resident, who did not wish to be named, said that around three months ago, her daughter was coming back from her tuitions when two men stopped her, showed her a knife and took her phone and wallet. “The officials have come here only because the house of an influential person has been burgled. We call the police regularly to help us with such regular menace, but no one cares,” she said.
No breakthrough was achieved till late Tuesday evening. Delhi Police Spokesperson Deependra Pathak said that the Crime Branch was also probing the matter with the local south-east district police.
