Burglars strike at housing society in Vibhuti Khand

DESPITE SECURITY Thieves break into flat, decamp with cash and valuables worth ₹10 lakh

LUCKNOW: Burglars struck at another posh locality in the city – this time, they broke into the flat of a senior executive in a group housing society in Vibhuti Khand on Wednesday night and took way cash and valuables worth ₹10 lakh.

The incident was reported from Rohtas Plumeria apartments.

In the past six months, burglars had broken into 11 flats of different buildings in this housing society and police so far failed to nab the gang involved in these incidents, said residents. These thefts happened despite the housing society having guards at the main entrance and exit points, they added.

The latest burglary happened in the flat of telecom company executive Udand Rao Srinivasan, when he was out for shopping with his family at a mall for three hours between 7 and 9.45 pm on Wednesday.

He said the burglars climbed up on the third floor of S-Block and entered into the flat (No. 301) by breaking a door of the balcony.

Footage from the CCTV camera installed in the adjoining

flat showed the presence of a washerman outside the flat. This man stayed on the housing society premises for over two hours. Srinivasan suspected that the washerman and his accomplices were involved in back-to-back thefts in the housing society.

Srinivasan said he came to know about the incident when he returned home and found the door of the balcony open. He found that valuables of his wife, daughter and mother were missing. The estimated cost of the belongings would be around ₹ 9-10 lakh, he added.

Former cricketer Gyanendra Pandey, other dignitaries, retired and serving bureaucrats stay in this housing society.

Pandey too raised suspicion about insiders’ involvement in all the burglaries. “How can an outsider come to know which

flat is locked and which family is not present at home,” he questioned.

He said the earlier incidents happened when families were out of town for many days. But the police’s failure to nab the culprits had emboldened thieves and they targeted a flat where the family was out for just three hours, added Pandey.

In the past six months, burglaries had been reported from flat numbers 204, 303, 1202 and 1203 of F Block while two thefts each took place in S and B blocks and one theft each in G, E and D blocks, said residents.

SSP (Lucknow) Kalanidhi Naithani said an FIR had been registered in the incident and a police team was specially deployed to end the burglar menace at the housing society. He assured that the culprits would be nabbed soon.