GREATER NOIDA: Cash and jewellery apparently worth Rs 18 lakh were burgled from the house of a senior official of the National Thermal Power Corporation on Sunday afternoon when the family was away shopping.The family of BC Galav, deputy general manager at NTPC, suspects guards at the gated community in Greater Noida’s Pi I sector had tipped off burglars that the family was not at home. While Galav is posted in Allahabad, his wife and two children live on the first floor of a three-storey house, where the remaining floors are occupied by furniture and other such items.Galav’s son Nishant said the burglary could not have been done without help from “insiders” in the housing society, pointing out that a few people knew that the family had stocked cash at home because of his sister’s wedding.The theft at Galav’s house is the second such incident since May 14, when the home of Vibha Chahal, an IAS officer posted at Greater Noida authority, was burgled. The burglary at Chahal’s house had raised several questions on security in the area as the building is right next to the residence of then SP (rural) Suniti. One of the alleged burglars was arrested following a shootout this Friday.Galav and his family had left for shopping around 2.30pm on Sunday after locking the main gate of their three-storey house and the door on the first floor, where the family lives. The doors on the other two floors were locked from inside.Nishant told TOI the family returned from the market around 7pm and found locks on the main gate and the first-floor door broken. “My sister Neha entered the house first. She found not only the locks broken, but hinges twisted as well. Almirahs in the first-floor bedroom were broken and the lockers inside empty,” Nishant said.The family pointed out that the burglars had only targeted the first-floor rooms where they lived and left the remaining two floors untouched. According to Nishant, who works with EXL Service India, an operations management and analytics company, the gang escaped with Rs 12 lakh cash and jewellery worth Rs 6 lakh kept in the almirahs. A laptop and three smartphones kept on a table nearby were left untouched. “Some people knew that my sister’s wedding was being planned. There appears to be a motive. A few construction workers near our home and the guards manning the main gate were the only ones who saw us leaving. Any of them could be involved,” he said.The housing society has two gates — the main entrance is open and manned through the day while the other one is open only between 5pm and 7pm. Police said though they had sourced footage from CCTV cameras installed near the main entrance, the visuals were not clear and made it difficult to identify anyone. The sector RWA has called officials of the private company that had installed the cameras to get the footage enhanced.The register maintained by guards at the main gate does not have any entry between 6pm and 7pm. A forensic team has taken footprints and fingerprints from the first floor of the house and police are trying to check details of calls made in the area.SP (rural) Ashish Shrivastava said police were investigating the case and trying to look for evidence.

Stay updated with all the Noida Latest News headlines here. For more exclusive & live news updates from all around India, stay connected with NYOOOZ.