Cops nab 3, including 2 juveniles, for luxury boutique heist

With the help of a tempo bearing the name "RAJA," Delhi Police apprehended two juveniles and a 21-year-old woman involved in robbing a luxury boutique in South Delhi, officials said on Tuesday.

According to a senior police official, the trio arrived at the boutique in a tempo. The woman approached the security guard, claiming to be a relative of the boutique’s owner and requesting to collect some clothes. When the guard refused, she asked to use the washroom. At that moment, two masked juveniles overpowered him, tied him up, and held him hostage.

The robbery was reported on the intervening night of February 28 and March 1 at the Fatehpur Beri police station. After ransacking the store, the accused fled with designer bridal outfits and other valuables.

“After sometime, the guard managed to free himself and made a PCR call. The owner reported that around 50 designer bridal outfits, along with a camera, desktop, and Digital Video Recorder (DVR), and other articles—worth Rs 2 crore — had been stolen,” Additional DCP (South), Achin Garg said.

As the boutique’s CCTV DVR was stolen, the police tracked the escape route of the tempo through other CCTV footage. The vehicle was followed for over six kilometers before disappearing in Manglapuri.

The police began the combing operation in the areas adjoining street at Manglapuri and Sultanpur area and they located a tempo parked in a street. The accused used cello tapes to hide the letters 'RAJA', but the police were able to match it with the CCTV footage. The owner of the van was traced and interrogated. This led the police to one of the juvenile, who confessed to the crime along with his associates.

The police recovered the stolen items, including four valuable paintings, electronics (two LED screen, one CPU, DVR, cash counting machine each and three handicams), 32 designer bridal lehengas, 105 dupattas and sarees, four pants, 27 suits, seven kurtas and a sherwani.

Through his investigation, police said that his associates, another juvenile who worked as a sales boy in the showroom and his female friend were also apprehended.

“The juvenile stated that he resides in the Sultanpur area and works at the boutique. He wanted to live a lavish life since he had suffered a loss through online gambling therefore, he along with his friend and his female friend, hatched a conspiracy to rob the boutique, as he knew the cost of the bridal outfits.” ADCP further said.