New Delhi, March 20 A 22-year-old chef working the night shift at a five-star hotel here was arrested on Friday for allegedly burglarizing a house in southwest Delhi's RK Puram by using a master key to open Chinese locks.
Police said that cash and jewelry worth Rs 2.69 lakh were recovered from the accused, identified as Nilesh alias Nikesh. A master key and two scooters, one of which is allegedly stolen, were also recovered.
A resident of RK Puram's Sector 1 reported that cash worth Rs 3.5 lakh and gold and silver jewelry were missing from his house when the family returned from a wedding in Rajasthan earlier this month.
According to police, CCTV footage showed a man attempting to open the gate, initially failing before managing to unlock it and entering the house. He was seen leaving about half an hour later with the stolen items and fleeing on a scooter.
His route was tracked until Ring Road near a five-star hotel in Dwarka area, after which he could not be traced, police said.
Technical surveillance helped identify the accused and he was subsequently arrested, they added.
Despite being on night duty at the hotel, the accused used gaps in his schedule to commit the theft, a senior police officer said.
During interrogation, he allegedly confessed to the crime and told police that he used a master key to open the Chinese locks. He then re-locked the gate to avoid raising suspicion.
"He said the stolen jewelry had been hidden inside a scooter parked at his workplace," the officer said.
Police said the scooter used to stash the jewelry had been stolen from the area last year. The accused also disclosed two failed attempts at theft in Ambedkar Basti, police said, adding that further investigation is underway.
