Three members of burglars'' gang arrested

New Delhi, Feb 20 (PTI) Three persons, allegedlyassociated with notorious ''Irshad gang'' and involved inseveral cases of day-time burglary, have been arrested in thecity, police said today.

Stolen goods worth Rs 10 lakh, including Rs five lakh incash, gold and silver jewellery, LCDs, colour TVs, digitalcameras, DVD players, imported perfume, designer sunglassesand other household items have been recovered from the three,they claimed.

Also, documents of properties purchased by them inBihar''s Arariya district have been recovered.

Mohammed Muzaffar, 23, Shiraj Ali Sheikh, 21 andMohammed Qateel, 30, were arrested on Friday from Shastri Parkand Seelampur.

With their arrest, around 35 fresh cases of burglariesand house theft reported in various localities of south,south-east and east Delhi have been solved, said H G SDhaliwal, Deputy Commissioner of Police, South District.

The gang had allegedly struck the house of one Sohan Lal,a senior officer of Education Department in Delhi Governmentand resident of Lado Sarai on February 10, when he went to ahospital for routine check-up. When he returned at around11.30 am, he found the house ransacked.

Similarly, on February 15, they had allegedly burgled thehouse of Vishram Singh, a retired DIG of BSF and a resident ofSaket when Singh and his wife had gone for a stroll at 3 pm.

When they returned at 4 pm, they found that the house has beenburgled, police said.

The gang members had also allegedly struck the house of acouncillor in Lado Sarai and decamped with laptops and cash.

Following this, police suspected the hands of notoriousIrshad Bihari gang, collected inputs about their movements andarrests were made.

The alleged kingpin of the gang, Irshad, hails fromArariya in Bihar and had migrated to Delhi around 15-20 yearsback along with his family members in Jama Masjid locality. Heused to stay on footpath and later allegedly startedcommitting burglaries in an organised and professional way andincluded his brothers and other relatives in his gang.

The arrested persons were thoroughly trained by Irshad.

Muzaffar had mastered the art of breaking and opening any kindof lock. Qateel, Irshad''s brother-in-law and Muzaffar, hadmastered the art of gaining access in the house within a veryshort time, according to police.

Sheikh Ali was used by the gang do the recee and identifythe routes of escape. He also identifies the potential targetsby roaming in the colony during day-time.

After selling off the booty, one of the members would goto their native village and invest money in some property orgive loan to the villagers on high interest.

As many as five properties were purchased by Irshad andMuzaffar in Arariya within a very short time, the officialsaid.