Cash and jewellery worth lakhs of rupees were stolen from the house of a Deputy Director-level official of the Railway Ministry in Lodhi Colony area of South Delhi on Sunday. The police received a call about the incident around 8 am on Sunday.

Police sources said the victim, Ramesh Kumar Saha, had gone to Ranchi for ten days along with his family. On Sunday morning, when the family returned home, they found their house had been ransacked. One of the doors of their house was broken and cash and jewellery were missing. Saha then informed the police.

Saha works as a Deputy Director with the Railway Ministry and is posted in Delhi.

“Saha left for Ranchi on December 23 and came back on Sunday morning,” the investigating officers said. Police sources said Saha informed them that Rs 10,000 in cash and jewellery worth Rs 7 lakh was missing from his house. “We are trying to find out when the burglary took place as the house was locked up for the last ten days,” police sources said. “If the incident took place before the span of 24 hours, the fingerprints, which have been taken from the spot would become extremely difficult to examine,” they added.

Ramesh Kumar lives in house number C-2/117 in the upmarket Lodhi Colony area.

The station house officer of Lodhi Colony police station, Rajinder Singh said, “A case has been registered in the matter and we are investigating further.”

Police sources said they suspect the involvement of local criminals, as it appears the robbers had information that the residents had locked up the house and gone out of town for more than a week. Deputy Commissioner of Police, HGS Dhaliwal confirmed the incident and said a probe is on.

This is the second burglary incident reported from a VIP area in the Capital within the span of a week. In the earlier incident, the house of Anil Verma, Private Secretary to External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, was robbed on December 29. Police received a complaint that gold and silver jewellery and other valuables had been burgled from Verma’s house in Vinay Marg area of Chanakyapuri in South Delhi.

“Verma had gone to Kolkata for a holiday with his family. When he came back, he found one of the doors of his house broken and informed the police,” sources said. Verma’s wife is an officer with the Indian Railways.

Police sources said they are investigating the matter very seriously as Vinay Marg is one of the most high-profile areas in the Capital and comes under the high-security zone due to its proximity to Race Course Road, where the Prime Minister’s residence is located. A case has been registered at the Chanakyapuri police station and a probe is on. Jagat Singh, station house officer of the Chanakyapuri police station, confirmed that a burglary had taken place at Pranab Mukherjee’s Private Secretary’s house in Vinay Marg.