Burglars didn’t realise they stole Nobel replica until they saw news, say cops

THREE HELD FOR BURGLING SATYARTHI’S HOUSE

WHEN THEY broke into house number 73 in Kalkaji’s Aravali Apartments, little did they know they would end up stealing a replica of the Nobel Peace Prize. Only when they switched on the news the next morning did the three brothers, arrested for burgling the house of Nobel laureate Kailash Satyarthi, realise what they had in their possession, police said.

According to police, the three — Rajan alias Natta (25), Vinod alias Pinki (35) and Sunil alias Sonu (28) — were arrested from Sangam Vihar on Sunday for allegedly burgling three houses in the area, including Satyarthi's, last week. Police also recovered a replica of the medal, two laptops, one wristwatch, four imported pens, two cameras and jewellery from their possession. However, the citation of Nobel Peace Prize is still missing.

A police officer said, “The trio, hid the jewellery and other valuables in different houses. They only got to know about the Nobel Peace medal from the news. They were waiting for the right time to sell the loot.”

JCP (southeastern range) R P Upadhyay said the brothers were arrested following a thorough investigation by human as well as technical intelligence. “All of them are involved in at least 10 cases of theft and robberies registered at separate police stations in the southeast district,” he said.

Sources said a team, led by the SHO of Kalkaji, was set up to track down the thieves. They first collected data of criminals involved in recent thefts in southeast district.

“The profiles of at least 300 thieves and burglars were scanned. The team narrowed down their search and found that 50 of them were named in various cases in Kalkaji police station alone. Of these, the team decided to look into 15 names — including thatofthebrothers—astheywere all out of jail,” police sources said.

“From the CCTV footage accessed from one of the houses, a blurry image of one of the men boreacloseresemblancetorajan. A police team was immediately sent to Rajan’s address, as mentioned in police record, who found he had shifted homes just a few days earlier. The team managed to track him down and arrested him from the same area,” DCP (southeast) Romil Baaniya said. His brothers were arrested soon after, said police.

During interrogation, police said Rajan confessed that he and his brothers were involved in the theft.

Prem Nath Pandey

(Left) The brothers were arrested from Sangam Vihar; (top) Police recovered most of the stolen items, including the replica of the medal. The citation, however, is still missing.