The accused, Siddharth Mehrotra. Police noticed a common thing in his photos and CCTV footage: The way he rolls up his shirt sleeves.
Rattled BY a spate of burglaries in Vasant Kunj, several teams of south district police had been trying to crack the cases with the help of CCTV footage, when they got their first clue — a retired bank officer’s son, arrested in Noida in 2015 in connection with seven burglaries. Investigators checked the accused’s crime dossier and found that he was out on bail. Police then started monitoring his social media profile and noticed a common thing in his photos and the CCTV footage: The way he rolls up his shirt sleeves. Eventually, police arrested three persons and solved burglaries at several high-profile homes — including of politicians and bureaucrats.
DCP (south) Ishwar Singh identified the accused as Siddharth Mehrotra (27), Jitender Yadav (29) and Anurag Singh (24). “In the last few months, there had been an increase in incidents of burglaries in Vasant Kunj. During investigation, CCTV footage was examined and records of previous burglars were scanned. While looking for information on suspects on Google, the team found out about Mehrotra, who was arrested in 2015. His face and body structure matched the CCTV footage,” he said.
“On scanning his Facebook profile and latest pictures, we found a picture of him sitting in a Ford EcoSport during a trip to Leh on July 30. The vehicle was registered under the name of one Vikas Kumar. After procuring details, we traced Mehrotra and arrested him on August 15,” the DCP said.
Singh said Mehrotra found that at residential blocks in the area, the guards did not have intercom and vehicles entering the blocks were not checked. “Mehrotra and Singh would enter the blocks and park the car in a safe area. They would target homes of politicians, bureaucrats and senior officers after reading the nameplate,” he said.
The DCP said Mehrotra would ring the bell and if people answered, he would say he had done so by mistake. If there was no response, he would break the door or window while Singh kept watch outside. “Mehrotra said he was fond of living a luxurious life and buying branded clothes. He would also spend the money on gadgets and has a diploma in animation. He also owns a Chevrolet Cruze,” he said.
