Three boys steal school bags

Three minor boys have been apprehended for burgling a leather bag shop in Nabi Karim area of central Delhi, the police said on Sunday.

The boys, in the age group of 16-17 years, had stolen Rs 30 lakh in cash and some school bags from the shop on the night intervening January 10-11, said Devesh Srivastava, additional commissioner of police (central).

The owner of the shop, Richi Vij, told police that when he opened the shop on January 11, he noticed that the locks of his almirah were broken and Rs 30 lakh in cash was stolen. The third floor window and the second floor window grills were used them to gain access to the shop, said police.

“Initially, there was no clue about the culprits involved in this incident, but sources were deployed in the area and local intelligence was gathered,” Srivastava said. The police received information on Saturday that some minor boys of Nabi Karim area were involved in this incident.

“It was found that some juveniles were lavishly spending money beyond their financial capacity.  On this, we apprehended three juvenile boys in the age group of 16-17 years,” Srivastava said.

At their instance, Rs 19.23 lakh in cash, a motorcycle, three mobile phones and 15 school bags — stolen from the shop of the complainant — were recovered. During interaction the boys admitted that they along with another minor boy had committed the theft.

“One of the juveniles - gang leader - had motivated the other three to commit a burglary in the shop to get huge financial gains. Thereafter, they arranged house breaking instruments and scaled the roof of the adjoining house. After breaking the window and grills of the upper floors, they entered the basement of the shop,” Srivastava said.

On the next day, they distributed the stolen money and went to their houses.

“They later purchased a motorcycle for Rs 70,000 and three mobile phones for Rs 24,000. The main accused who had planned the burglary is still at large and efforts are being made to apprehend him for further recovery of stolen money,” Srivastava added.