Rs 1crore in cash, jewellery stolen from Ghaziabad bizman house

Ghaziabad: Thieves targeted the house of a prominent timber merchant in

Chandrapuri

around noon on Saturday and allegedly decamped with cash and jewellery worth nearly Rs 1 crore. At the time, Mukesh Gupta, the businessman, had gone to his shop and his family to a relative’s house to celebrate Bhai Duj.

Mukesh’s friend and neighbour Rajiv told TOI that due to bank holiday, the timber merchant was unable to deposit the cash in the bank and had brought it to his house. Police said they had scanned the footage of CCTV cameras in the area but found no clue.

“Mukesh left for his shop around 10am, while his wife and daughter left for Meerut around 11am to celebrate Bhai Duj. It must have been 12.30pm when Mukesh returned home and found his house ransacked. Around 12.45pm, he called me to inform me about the theft,” Rajiv said.

“Banks are closed due to Diwali and Bhai Duj. So, he had brought cash from his shop to his house and was planning to deposit the same on Monday,” he added.

Nipun Agarwal, SP (City 1), however, said that Mukesh was yet to assess the amount of money that had been stolen. “At this stage, we cannot comment on the amount which has gone missing as the family is still assessing the same,” he said.

Police suspect the theft to be the handiwork of someone known to the family.

“The thieves targeted only that room where the cash and jewellery were kept. It meant they knew in advance about the family’s movement and the crime was committed in less than half an hour, suggesting the involvement of an insider,” said Agarwal.

While there’s no CCTV camera installed at the businessman’s house, police are scanning the footage of CCTV cameras in the neighbourhood. “Efforts are on to track down the criminals,” a police officer said.