In a bizarre incident in Varanasi, unidentified burglars allegedly switched on the air-conditioner inside a locked house and spent nearly three hours in comfort before escaping with gold and silver jewellery worth crores of rupees, Rs 1.90 lakh in cash, and CCTV equipment. The theft took place on the night of June 2 at the Ganeshpur residence of travel agency owner Vinod Kumar, under Shivpur police station limits. The family was away in Bihar to attend a post-death ritual of a relative.
Investigation Reveals AC Usage
After inspecting the crime scene, ACP (Cantt) Apurva Pandey stated on Saturday that the initial investigation revealed that the thieves switched on the AC to operate comfortably for almost three hours. He said the value of the stolen cash, jewellery, and other valuables has so far been estimated at around Rs 1.5 crore. However, investigators believe the figure could rise further as the homeowner is still compiling details of valuables kept in the house.
Details of the Burglary
The probe revealed that Kumar, who previously ran a tractor dealership before entering the travel business in 2018, had constructed the Ganeshpur house in 2022 and lived there with his wife. Their son works in Gurugram, while their daughter resides in Meerut with her husband, a senior GST officer. Apart from the jewellery belonging to Kumar's wife, valuables owned by other family members had also been kept in the house, significantly increasing the scale of the loss.
Before leaving for Bihar, Kumar had relied on a CCTV surveillance system linked to his mobile phone to monitor the property remotely. According to investigators, he noticed on June 2 that the CCTV feed had suddenly gone offline. However, occupied with the family function, he did not immediately suspect foul play. It was not until June 4 that Kumar, concerned about the prolonged disruption of the CCTV feed, asked his neighbours to inspect the property. Their findings confirmed his worst fears — the main doors had been broken open and the house appeared to have been burgled. Kumar immediately returned to Varanasi and informed the police.
Systematic Theft
A subsequent inspection revealed that the intruders had systematically ransacked the residence, making away with large quantities of jewellery, cash, and the CCTV surveillance equipment, apparently in an attempt to erase evidence of the crime. The police are now investigating the case and have formed teams to track down the suspects.
