Thieves drill hole into govt school wall in Masuri, make off with gadgets

A gang of thieves bored a hole in the wall of a primary government school at Kudiyagarhi in Masuri town of Ghaziabad and fled with digital devices and other equipment late Sunday night, police said on Monday.

The school authorities on Monday morning found that the gang bored a hole of about 2-3 feet in diameter in the wall of the school building and escaped with a digital TV, digital devices and three fans. They said this was the eighth or ninth time that thieves are targeting their school in the past several years.

“The digital TV contained digitised books for students and helped them through audio-visual aids. This was donated by a private organisation. Besides, they also took away the connected devices and also fans. They also took away the school-bag of a class 5 student who had left it at school on Friday as it was raining when he left. Our school has been a frequent target of thieves -- there have been about 8-10 such incidents in past several years,” said Priyanka Rastogi, head of the school.

The school runs classes 1-5 and has about 41 students on its rolls currently.

Rastogi said due to the frequent instances of theft, they replaced old locks and got installed bolt locks on all doors.

“But thieves this time bored a hole in wall and escaped after breaking the door lock from inside. In previous cases, different school heads got registered FIRs and even gave police complaints at police posts and the police station, but the thefts have continued unabated. We have also sought the intervention of the district administration officials in this regard and have given a fresh police complaint to Wave City police station on Monday,” Rastogi added.

The school was earlier under the jurisdiction of Masuri police station area and later came under jurisdiction of Wave City police station after the formation of Ghaziabad police commissionerate. Both police stations fall under the jurisdiction of the rural zone.

The school authorities filed a complaint on November 27, 2010, related to theft of 100 sets of plates, spoons and other utensils used for preparing the midday meal for students. They filed another complaint on April 25, 2015, related to theft of chair and tables.

A third complaint was given November 19, 2020, related to theft of UPS, two ceiling fans, and iron tables, A fourth complaint was filed on July 2022 after thieves took away utensils, fans and also burnt official documents.

When contacted about these complaint, Lipi Nagayach, assistant commissioner of police, Wave City, said she will look into past cases and ensure that the gang is arrested soon.

“We suspect that it might be the job of an insider or someone who has knowledge about the articles and items kept at the school. I have asked the Wave City police station to register an FIR in the latest incident of theft. Our teams will thoroughly investigate the case and ensure that the thieves are nabbed,” the ACP said.