Benipal's office burgled, intruder breaks CCTV, damages LCD screen

Ludhiana : A year and a half after tehsildar-cum-subregistrar (central) Maj Gurjinder Singh Benipal was allegedly stripped and assaulted by an Akali leader, his office, which doubles up as his home, in Gill village was burgled yesterday at around midnight. The intruder broke a close circuit TV camera and damaged a 20-inch LCD television screen installed in his office. Except a camera, used for clicking pictures of people getting their revenue documents registered in the office, nothing was found missing. However, the suspect, who appeared to be in his mid-twenties, was caught on the CCTV camera. The incident came to light when employees arrived at the tehsildar’s office and found the locks broken and immediately informed Benipal. The youth even trespassed into Benipal’s office located on the first floor and reportedly ransacked revenue related documents. According to assistant police commissioner Narinder Rubby, the suspect struck at midnight and was caught by by the CCTV camera. He said the burglar first broke the lock and entered the computer room. “He was draped in a blanket and had covered his face well. Soon after entering the office he climbed a chair and broke the CCTV after removing his blanket. It was then that suspect was caught on camera”, he added.

Rubby stated it was a futile burglary attempt as the suspect failed to get hold of anything. Even the broken CCTV camera was found at the premises. “”It appears the thief broke into the tehsildar office, hoping he would get hold of some cash, but failed to find anything and left the scene,” he added. While the police filed a case of theft, Benipal suspected “foul play”. “Had the youth entered the office with a motive to steal something he wouldn’t have left a 20-inch LCD TV screen behind. He just hit it with something and damaged it. Nothing else was stolen. We’ll however have to check revenue records for the past two years to ascertain whether some documents have been stolen or not”, he said. Today’s incident has yet again laid bare the vulnerability of government offices. It has also come to the fore that the watchman was employed at the land record office. Meanwhile, the police has launched a hunt to nab the suspect.