Kolkata: The CCTV footage of a burglary that took place in a house at Fartabad, Garia has sent a wave of panic through the neighbourhood. The audacity of the burglars as seen in the footage raised concerns of security among locals, especially elderly residents of the Rajpur-Sonarpur area as they feared that the accused could be capable of committing more serious crimes.The incident happened on Saturday night, hours after a woman posted on social media about a Rs 5 lakh necklace gifted by her husband on the occasion of her birthday. The burglars broke into the couple’s house when they were not at home. Though the necklace was not in the house at the time of the break-in, the robbers fled with cash, jewellery and three bottles of imported liquor, together worth Rs 9 lakh. The CCTV footage showed that three robbers who were well-dressed and wore smartwatches, opened the refrigerator and smeared the camera lenses with leftover birthday cakes to cover their tracks.
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The incident has also renewed concerns over a spate of bicycle, motorcycle and mobile phone thefts. Garia resident Rajdeep Das said, “The incident has made us scared of leaving the home locked as there is no guarantee whether our belongings would remain safe. In the past two decades, I have witnessed many burglaries in this locality but this one is alarming.“ His neighbour Souvik Chatterjee added, “Cops should intensify patrolling.”Meanwhile, a police officer pointed to another growing concern — the unchecked influx of outsiders into residential neighbourhoods and inadequate tenant verification. “Many landlords are renting out their properties to outsiders without properly verifying their identities. They do not bother to obtain the necessary police NOC or even fill up the prescribed tenant verification forms,” said the officer.In several cases, suspected criminals stay in rented accommodation for barely a month or six weeks, commit crimes and flee before their identities and movements can be properly established, said police.Sonali Roy, councillor of ward 25 of Rajpur-Sonarpur Municipality, said, “Theft and snatching have always been there, and they continue to occur. However, there was a dip over the past two years. The Fartabad incident is worrying.” Suman Mondal, councillor of ward 35 of the same municipality, said: “This incident shoes the criminals are still active.“
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