A 55-year-old homeless man and three scrap dealers were arrested by the Delhi Police on Sunday following a complaint by the Aam Aamdi Party (AAP) of theft in their party office early Saturday.
The AAP had filed a complaint with the Indraprastha police station on Sunday at 8.40 p.m. regarding a theft at their party office at 206 Rouse Avenue.
Caught on CCTV cameras
The incident was captured by CCTV cameras. In the footage, a man is seen trying to break open a grilled door of the office’s entrance around 4.30 a.m. on Saturday. He is seen going inside the office and coming out with bags minutes later. He is seen loading the bags on his cycle cart.
In its complaint, the party said: “The culprits stole steal canopies [around 25-28 in number], which were pre-printed with the party name and logo... the culprit can be identified in CCTV footage. The man also tried to break the iron grill outside the premises.” Other campaign material was also stolen, the party added.
Mohammad Qasim, who lives around Minto Road, sold the material to scrap dealers Furkan, Saifuddin and Kaiyyum. The stolen campaign material was recovered from the accused.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (central zone) Mandeep Singh Randhawa said that Qasim has a criminal record and has been involved in at least 10 cases of robberies and snatchings. Cases have also been registered against him under the Arms Act.
‘Waited to complain’
“He was caught in the act on CCTV cameras placed outside the gates. He later sold the stolen items to his accomplices, who have also been taken into custody,” Mr. Randhawa said.
A senior party leader said that they took over 12 hours to report the incident because they wanted to scrutinise the CCTV footage to look for any helpful lead for the police. Finally, in the evening, the complaint was submitted along with the footage.
The police said that though the face of the accused was not visible clearly in the video, it helped them narrow down their investigation to six people, which included Qasim. He was arrested from Kamla Market. “During questioning he admitted to the theft and named his accomplices,” an official said.
The incident comes a month after Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s blue WagonR, which was being used by a party volunteer, was stolen from outside the Delhi Secretariat. The car was found a day later abandoned near the Delhi-Ghaziabad border.