Back-to-back thefts in VIP houses baffle cops

LUCKNOW : Back to back thefts in senior bureaucrats and politicians’ flats in the past few months have thrown a stiff challenge to the city police.

As per police data, two thefts were reported at CSI Towers, exclusively for IAS officers’ accommodation, in Vipin Khand, Gomti Nagar and legislators’ residential apartments Bahukhandi in Dalibagh in the past 45 days.

Burglars also broke into a flat in Dalibagh colony behind DGP headquarters and in a police officer’s flat in OCR building, another government accommodation for senior journalists and senior officials, in the past few months.

So far, police have failed to trace the burglars in any of these thefts. However, senior superintendent of police (SSP) Kalanidhi Naithani on Tuesday suspended a sub inspector Krishna Bali Singh, who was investigation officer of at least four thefts at CSI Towers in the past two years.

The SSP said a special team of crime branch and electronic surveillance had been deployed to track gangs involved in thefts in VVIP apartments and colonies. He said a team of local police was also deployed to collect details of suspicious people visiting these places and measures having been taken to strengthen security at vulnerable spots.

To recall, on Monday night, burglars broke into Samajwadi Party’s state president Naresh Uttam’s flat 602 of Bahukhandi building. Uttam’s driver Jagat Narayan reported the matter to the police the next day. The theft took place when the SP leader was out of town . Documents and valuables worth several lakh were stolen.

On Tuesday, the burglars targeted a traffic inspector Harendra Paswan’s flat in another VVIP building OCR in Hussainganj and decamped with cash and valuables worth several thousand.

Similarly, on October 15, thieves breached the security of CSI Towers and broke into the locked flat (403, B-Block) of a senior IAS officer Rajan Shukla, principal secretary, political pension department. The colony is guarded round the clock and the housing society is one of the most secure in the city. Yet the thieves stole cash and jewellery from the flat. The FIR was lodged on the complaint of Rajan Shukla’s wife Neelam Shukla, in which she mentioned that a licensed firearm was also stolen.