Bhubaneswar, Nov. 26: A spurt in burglary cases is giving residents of the city sleepless nights.

Despite intensified night patrolling and deployment of armed guards in police control room vans, the city has witnessed an increase in burglary cases.

The residents also apprehend further increase in such incidents with a section of the police force to be deployed for special duty in and around the Assembly, which goes into session from November 28.

The recent incident of burglary at Lingipur in the Lingaraj police limits on Sunday night has sent the entire locality into panic. Besides, criminals had burgled valuables worth several lakhs of rupees from two houses and targeted four others in the same area on October 31.

The police said the burglars were mostly targeting vacant houses.

On November 23, burglars had struck at the house of one Sanjeeb Nanda, 37, of Ganesh Nagar at Jagamara and decamped with gold ornaments weighing about 90 grams and cash worth Rs 5,000. The incident took place when Nanda and his family members had gone to attend a marriage party.

On the other hand, the city residents blame poor patrolling for increase in the burglary incidents.

“Incidents of robbery and burglary have become a common affair now. Apart from breaking business establishment, the criminals are also targeting residential areas. Most of the times the police control room vans only move on major roads giving an opportunity to the burglars to strike at residential areas,” said Lingipur resident Ranjan Pradhan.

The police said a gang was active in the city. “The modus operandi suggests that the criminals are breaking through the windows to commit the crime. Night patrolling has been intensified along with beat patrolling to curb such incidents,” said a senior police official.

Not only the cases of burglary are increasing, but also the police have registered a number of robbery and theft cases.

According to official records, as many as 1,287 thefts, 276 burglaries and 75 robbery cases have been reported till October 31. Last month, 36 cases of burglary were reported in the city.