Golden ornaments recovered by the police. Picture by Badrika Nath Das

Cuttack, March 23: City police today arrested two juveniles for their alleged involvement in a burglary incident at Nazarpur under Jagatpur police limits. The two accused have been identified as Sanjay Kumar Lenka (16) and Srikanta Gochayat (15).

According to police, both Sanjay and Srikant had sneaked into the house of businessman Debendra Nath Lenka (55) and carried away valuables including gold ornaments on March 16.

The incident had occurred between 9pm and 10pm when the businessman, along with his family, had gone to attend a marriage ceremony at Nemala, 35km from Jagatpur.

Both the accused reportedly sneaked into Debendra Nath’s house through the roof. Later, they broke a door of the house with the help of a screwdriver and decamped with the gold ornaments worth over Rs 4 lakh. Among the juveniles, Sanjay, who hails from Malasasan village in Salipur, was staying with his uncle at Jagatpur, while Srikant was staying with his parents at Delta Colony in Jagatpur.

According to police, Sanjay is the mastermind behind the robbery incident as he was looking for some money to purchase a motorcycle on his own. Sanjay, a Plus Two second year student, had lured Srikant to commit the offence.

Following the burglary, both Sanjay and Srikant had dumped the gold ornaments in the backyard of their respective houses after dividing the articles among them.

The accused were caught after they tried to contact a local jeweller to sell the stolen ornaments.

The local jeweller played a crucial role in tracking the culprits after they approached him to sell the stolen ornaments.

Incidentally, Debendra Nath had purchased some of those stolen ornaments from the same jewellery shop, said sources in the police. The police have recovered all the gold ornaments, weighing 252 grams, from their possession.

“I am happy that all the gold ornaments have been recovered which we had kept for my daughter’s marriage on April 27,” said Debendra Nath.

“Some other persons might also be involved in the burglary as the accused were staying in another colony. We suspect that some people in our locality, who knew that we would be out of the town, planned the burglary,” he added.

Both Sanjay and Srikant have been arrested under Sections 457, and 380 of the Indian Penal Code. They will be sent to a short-stay home in Berhampur after they are produced before the court tomorrow.