A broken safe at RJD leader Ajay Kumar Sinha’s home in Patna on November 1. Picture by Ranjeet Kumar Dey

Patna, Nov. 2: The myth of crime taking backseat in the state during Chhath took a beating this year with at least three offences being reported in the city over the four days of the festival. It also dented the police claim of being active in the festive season.

On November 1 — when devotees were celebrating Pehli Arghya — four armed men barged into the house of RJD leader Ajay Kumar Sinha in the Shivpuri area under Shastri Nagar police station. They broke two steel cupboards and decamped with jewellery worth Rs 15 lakh.

Sinha, the chairman of the civic body at Nabinagar in Aurangabad, had stored the jewellery for his daughter’s wedding. He had gone to Nabinagar, with his family, to celebrate Chhath. A family, who have rented some rooms in the house, lives on the second floor. Sinha’s servant Ram Pravesh and his family, who live in a house opposite to his, were responsible for taking care of the tenement.

Pravesh told The Telegraph: “I had come out of my house to relieve myself around 1.30am and saw a few men on the compound of my employer’s house. Before I could raise an alarm, two of them caught me and pointed firearms at me. They threw me into my house and locked the door. ”

When the criminals left at 2.30am, Pravesh informed the tenants on the second floor. They, in turn, informed Sinha.

An officer at Shastri Nagar police station said investigations were on.

Crime continued to plague the capital on the third day of Chhath Puja as well. A 23-year-old tribal girl from Ranchi was allegedly raped at Indira Nagar under Kankerbagh police station last night.

The girl worked as a maid in the house of engineer Manoj Kumar. She said the engineer’s brother-in-law, Kumar Manoj, found her alone in the house and raped her.

The victim had to go from one police station to another to lodge a complaint. City central superintendent of police Shivdeep Lande said: “Late last night, I got a call from a girl claiming that she had been waiting for two hours to lodge a complaint at the SC/ST police station in the Hartali roundabout area. But there was no one to listen to her. I immediately directed her to go to another police station.”

Sources said the victim first went to the police station at Jakkanpur and then to Kankerbagh, where a deputy superintendent of police finally lodged her complaint.

Lande said: “The victim has been sent for a medical examination. Our investigations have revealed that Manoj Kumar and Kumar Manoj — a resident of road number 8 in the Ashok Nagar area — have some conflict over a piece of land. Kumar Manoj is absconding.”

The final day of the festival was also not crime-free. Residents of Vivek Colony under Rajiv Nagar police station discovered the body of a child, aged between five and six months, in a wasteland.

An officer at Rajiv Nagar police station said: “The right wrist of the child has been slit. The body has been sent for post-mortem.”

Patna senior superintendent of police Alok Kumar said: “The religious belief is paramount during a festival but one must not forget that criminals are opportunists. They will try to take advantage of any situation. Police remain very active during festivals but people should also be on alert.”