5 houses, 50 minutes: Masjid Moth burglaries shock residents

New Delhi
A group of burglars, wearing masks and wielding weapons, broke into at least five houses at DDA Flats in Masjid Moth Phase-2, south Delhi, using heavy rainfall as a cover and making off with money and jewellery in 50 minutes without being spotted, police said.
Residents blamed the guards for not being vigilant enough during their rounds, but the RWA said that the guards were inside due to heavy rainfall. No arrest has been made in the case.
A police officer, requesting anonymity, said the accused entered the complex around 2.30am on Thursday and spent two hours inside the colony. They took 50 minutes to burgle the houses, all in C and D blocks, and spent the rest of the time to check other houses, the officer said.
“According to initial information, burglaries took place at three houses only. The other two houses are safe. The accused tried to steal items but couldn’t. We don’t know if they conducted recce before. We are checking all the allegations and will make arrests soon,” deputy commissioner of police (south) Ankit Chauhan said.
The DDA complex has two entry/exit gates, and two guards are deployed at each gate. Despite four guards being present, residents said they found out about the burglaries only upon spotting house gates broken around 8am.
A second senior police officer said, “It was raining heavily and the men knew the guards would be sleeping inside. They walked in and started breaking into houses.”
In a video of the purported incident shared by residents, three men are seen wielding crowbars, breaking a door and entering a locked house.
Resident Archit Bhardwaj, who works as a manager with a bank, said he was staying at his father’s house in Faridabad for the past two to three days. “We didn’t know this would happen. We are all very scared. Around 8am, I received multiple calls from residents. They told me my door was open and burglars stole items. All my wife’s wedding jewellery was gone. Around ₹50,000 cash was missing as well. My entire house was ransacked; medicines, furniture and documents were strewn across the floor.”
Another resident, Manish Gupta, raised safety concerns due to the incident. “The burglars were roaming freely. We checked our CCTV camera footage and found they had crowbars and other weapons. They even had enough time to check all houses, to find out if they were locked or open). This is scary for our children…None of the guards were even aware of the burglaries,” he said.
RWA president Naveen Wadwa said, “The incident is unfortunate. Residents can’t pin the blame on the guards. It was raining and they were inside. We are cooperating with the police.”
A resident, not wishing to be named, who works as an advocate at a Delhi court, said, “The three burglars freely roamed in our C Block building and managed to break into three homes. I was out of town when this happened. Thankfully, I took my wife with me. How can the guards not see three to four men walk around for two hours? We don’t want to live in a place where we don’t feel safe. I have children. We have raised security issues with the RWA before.”