Kolkata: A 19-year-old Bachelor of Computer Applications (BCA) student was arrested on Monday for allegedly robbing his neighbour’s flat in a luxury housing complex in West Bengal’s Sarsuna area after Kolkata Police traced his recent online purchases — including a money-counting machine and an electric saw — that made him the prime suspect, police said.
Around ₹25 lakh in cash and gold jewellery, along with gold bars and coins worth more than ₹1.5 crore, were allegedly stolen between January 19 and 23 when the residents — a homemaker and her son and daughter — were out of town.
The BCA student studies at a private college in Odisha and lives in the same housing complex.
“Most of the stolen gold and cash were recovered from his possession. A court remanded him to police custody till February 6 for further investigation. The modus operandi made it apparent that insiders were involved,” a police officer said, requesting anonymity.
The homemaker and her children, after returning from their ancestral home in Jharkhand, allegedly found that a steel safe and a cupboard had been broken into by an intruder.
Police said the BCA student, whose father is a businessman, allegedly used a duplicate key to enter his neighbour’s flat on the fifth floor of Tower 3.
“He was known to be a friend of the homemaker’s daughter and both belong to the same age group,” the officer said.
After the break-in was detected, the homemaker had asked the boy to go through footage captured by a security camera installed outside the flat. “The suspect destroyed the evidence,” the officer said.
“The BCA student was arrested after his internet browsing history convinced investigators that he broke into his neighbour’s flat in Tower 3,” the officer added.
