Unsolved crime cases especially those of three burglaries carried out in the broad daylight in Pauri on Tuesday are being viewed as challenges for the police administration, especially for the Pauri Kotwali station house officer Promod Uniyal who assumed charge a few days ago after being promoted to the post.
About two months ago, four to five theft cases were reported in Pauri and out of these the police could solve only one case- a theft reported from the BadrinathDharmshala during a marriage ceremony during the night. The police managed to arrest the culprit and recover all stolen items except for a mobile phone. More recently, three burglaries were committed during broad daylight on Tuesday in Pauri with the modus operandi of the culprits fitting a pattern.
The miscreants broke the lock of collectorate employee Jaspal Singh Rawat’s home in the government quarters in the heart of the city on Tuesday at about 11 AM when the family was out of home. The thieves stole about Rs 65,000 from the Rawat residence. While Rawat was in a programme of the Uttarakhand ministerial employees association, his wife had gone to the market for shopping at about 10 AM. When she returned home at noon, she found the lock was broken off the door and the articles in the room were scattered. The double lock of their almirah had also been broken with the Rs 65,000 in the cupboard also being stolen. The Kotwali SHO said that on the same day two other cases of theft were also reported during the day time near the BadrinathDharmshala in the Civil line. One of the homes burgled was that of a driver of the district Panchayat while the other house targeted was that of another government employee. While Rs 3000 was stolen from the home of the district Panchayat driver, Rs 10,000 was reported stolen from the house of the other government employee. In both cases, the locks on the doors were broken by the burglars.
The police CO DS Tomar said that all the burglary incidents which took place in the past and the ones on Tuesday were carried out in the same pattern including the breaking of the locks.
The police have taken four persons in custody on Tuesday and three on Wednesday. The police have the closed circuit television camera footage in three places from 11AM to 12 PM and are trying to trace the culprits. Apart from this, the police will also resort to surveillance of mobile phones in the area in order to narrow down on the suspects. Tomar said that the investigation is being conducted to ascertain aspects like whether the culprits are locals or from outside Pauri.
Meanwhile, the Pauri Vyapar Sabha president Devendra Singh Rawat, general secretary Anoop Devrani and others met the senior superintendent of police Jagat Ram Joshi on Wednesday and expressed their concern at the rise in burglaries.