Burglary accused: Kin in dark, the trio lived lavish lifestyle

According to the police, they used to conduct a recce to spot locked government houses, break into them and get away after collecting valuables and cash. Among their victims were a former teacher of Lucky in Sector 23 and one of his family friends in Sector 27.

Lucky is the son of a peon working with the Punjab government. He was studying web designing and owned a car. His mother Santosh said, “He spent all his money on his girlfriend. He never brought a penny home and so we never came to know about this. We had taken a loan to educate him and got him a car also on EMI.”

But when he got an expensive music system installed in the car, “we asked him how he got so much money, he told us that he had bought it very cheap’’, Santosh said.

The police, however, said that they found “all kinds of electronics’’ from his house. He had also bought a laptop, branded clothes and a two-wheeler for his girlfriend. “But all these things were paid for in cash and the bills are in the name of his girlfriend,” said a police official.

Vikas is Lucky’s neighbour in Sector 20. His father Mahabir Parshad, who is a peon in a Haryana government department, said, “Whenever he bought expensive clothes, I asked him how he got these. He would say that he was into cricket betting.’’

Vikas had been unemployed for the last two months. Earlier, he had worked at a clothes store in a mall in Zirakpur and then at a shop in Sector 35.

Monty’s brother and father are also employed with the Haryana government and the family stays in Sector 22.  Monty’s brother Praveen claimed his brother had not been in touch with Vikas and Lucky for the last many months. “His friends never came here,” he said.

The police claim that all three were arrested on Saturday evening at a naka near PGI while travelling in Lucky’s Alto car, but their families have a different story. Said Mahabir, “Our neighbours told us they had seen the police taking him away.

For two days, we kept looking for him. On the third day, the police just barged into our house,” said Mahabir.

Similarly, Santosh said they searched for Lucky for two days, before they read about his arrest in newspapers. “Lucky was actually arrested from near our house while he was with his girlfriend. She was also detained and let off in the evening,” she said.

Praveen said the police were hiding facts. “There were other persons who were also detained, but the police let them off.’’