Minor,20-year-old held for burglaries,arson in S Delhi

The two were involved in burglary at the Laxmi Bai Nagar house of Ranbir Singh on the intervening night of December 10-11. Later,they set it on fire.

The police have recovered housebreaking equipment,stolen jewellery,knife and phones from their possession,an officer said. According to the police,the juvenile had run away with 34 others from the Children’s Home earlier this year.

DCP Dhaliwal said the juvenile,Sanjay and their associates were involved in most burglary and arson cases reported in recent past from Laxmi Bai Nagar,Sarojini Nagar,Kotla Mubarakpur and RK Puram areas .

According to Dhaliwal,it emerged during investigations that a group of minors addicted to liquor and narcotics committed most of the burglaries,under the leadership of a juvenile who recently escaped from the Children’s Home. The police laid traps in parks where such juveniles are usually found gambling,at outlets where they were suspected to source liquor,and at places where the police suspected they would spend the night.

Finally,following a tip-off,the police got to Sanjay and the juvenile at the tonga stand in Lodhi Colony on Tuesday morning. The Juvenile Justice Board had earlier issued an arrest warrant against the minor who was arrested today.

Sanjay disclosed during interrogation that he and some other minor criminals were involved in several of the recent burglaries and arson cases. An officer said he told interrogators that the suspects remained under the influence of “Ink Fluid”. They set the burgled houses on fire partly as good omen and also to wipe off all evidence of crime,the police said.

According to the police,the group of juveniles have been involved in more than 100 incidents of thefts and burglaries in the past few years. Most houses targetted belonged to middle and senior-level officials,the police said.

Sanjay reportedly revealed that they sold the stolen articles in Bihar through a contact in Badarpur.