Theft in Sector 49, Chandigarh, on Friday. (Express photo by Jasbir Malhi)
BURGLARS BROKE into two houses, including one of BNS Negi, the retired Director-General of Police of Himachal Pradesh, and took away his licensed German-make 30 mm Mauser rifle along with gold, diamond and silver jewellery worth Rs 15 lakh from Goodwill Enclave in Sector 49. The other burgled house belonged to a local businessman, Amit Kumar. There, the burglars stole Rs 5,000 and a gold chain.
BNS Negi, a retired IPS officer of the 1988 batch, also has a house in Solan district of Himachal where his wife is a government teacher with the Himachal Pradesh Education Board. He, along with his two children, had gone to Solan a fortnight back. Negi retired from the Himachal Police in 2017.
Police said the break-ins might have occurred a couple of days back and these came to light on Thursday evening when Amit Kumar, who had gone to Ambala, returned home and found the locks of his house broken. Incidentally, the locks at Negi’s house were also found broken. Both the burgled houses were situated on the top floor of a three-storey building at Goodwill Enclave, Sector 49. Negi and Kumar lodged separate complaints with the police on Friday and two FIRs were registered at Sector 49 PS.
Inspector Jaswinder Kaur, the Station House Officer of PS 49, said, “The burgled jewellery included some ancestral items of ex-DGP BNS Negi’s family. BNS Negi, along with his family members, returned to Chandigarh yesterday night when some of his neighbours informed him about the burglary at his house. Both the houses must have been burgled on Wednesday night as Amit had left his house during the daytime that day. We have registered two separate FIRs.”
Police sources said in his statement to the police, Negi said, “The Mauser and the jewellery had been kept in an iron almirah and it was double locked.”
“I was under the impression that I am staying in one of the most safest cities of our country but this incident has proved me wrong. The incident might have occurred on Wednesday night. I have CCTV cameras at my house but due to the weak batteries, these were not working. The stolen jewellery included my ancestral ornaments of Kinnaur design,” said Negi on the phone from Solan.
Both the houses were totally ransacked. Police said no CCTV cameras were installed outside the houses in the society and only one pair was found at the entry gate of Goodwill Enclave.