(From top) The Vaachaspati Nagar residence of Shahjahanpur station house officer Ram Sewak Raawat, experts search for clues at the burgled house of Dr Shajanand Sinha on Bhoothnath Road and housewife Kiran looks at the scene of the break-in at her house in Mahatma Gandhi Nagar. Pictures by Sachin

A heist of valuables and cash worth Rs 3.5 lakh at a cop’s rented flat left police red-faced on Friday.

The incident seems gutsy because not only the flat but the house also belonged to a cop. The matter came to the fore after neighbours of Ram Sewak Raawat, the station house officer of Shahjahanpur in Patna rural, found the doors of his flat ajar with no occupants.

The thieves broke into the rented flat at the ground floor of a double-storeyed building at Vaachaspati Nagar under the jurisdiction of Bahadurpur police station.

To his utter disbelief, Raawat said it was pre-meditated theft because “the criminals knew they were in the house of a policeman and his family were out of station”.

“I was having a normal day at work tracking down criminals and investigating cases when thieves were on the prowl at my abode,” said the sub-inspector-rank officer, who heads the Shahjahanpur police station that falls under Fatuha sub-division.

The SHO added that he was in total shock.

“I am coming to terms to believe that a policeman’s house, too, can be robbed. My wife (Anju) and two children live with me in the flat. I stay out most of the time because of work. My family left for Bhithi (a village in Siwan) on October 26 for Chhath. It is my ancestral village. The house remained locked since then. I wasn’t home either because we were on high alert for Chhath. On Friday morning, I got a call from one of the family members of my landlord saying that my house had been looted,” Rawat said.

Landlord Jagdanand Thakur is posted at Naughachia police station in Bhagalpur, around 270km east of Patna.

The rented accommodation had been ransacked.

“It is evident that the thieves were keeping an eye on my house for long. It is a planned theft. They took their own sweet time in breaking the cupboards and almirahs to collect the valuables. There wasn’t much cash at home but a lot of jewellery worth around Rs 3.5 lakh has been stolen. I can’t ascertain the time the incident occurred because I wasn’t at home for long,” Raawat said.

Even the landlord and his other family members were not able to give any leads because they “haven’t heard anything” despite living in the first floor of the same house.

“They first broke open the iron grills and entered my house by breaking the main door lock. They must have seen my uniforms hanging on the walls but still went ahead with the theft. They acted fearlessly,” Raawat added.

The officials at the Bahadurpur police station said the matter was being investigated.

“Many families leave the city for Chhath because they travel to their native villages and towns. The thieves took advantage of this. We are using our local intelligence to trace the gang. We hope of a breakthrough soon,” an officer at the Bahadurpur police station said.

Theft at docs’ home

At Bhoothnath Road, thieves got into the residence of Shajanand Sinha, a doctor, and fled with cash and precious items worth Rs 4 lakh, the police said. Sinha and his doctor wife Pushpa Rai were away when the incident occurred on Thursday. The police are investigating the case.

Rs 12 lakh burglary

A burglary was carried out at one Sunil Kumar and his wife Kiran’s residence at Mukundkunj Apartments in Mahatma Gandhi Nagar. The family had gone to their village for Chhath. According to the FIR, valuables and cash worth Rs 12 lakh have been looted. This case is also being investigated.