Thieves steal six goats worth Rs 2 lakh, rob owners of festive Bakrid

New Delhi, June 12 (PTI) In the dead of night, three men stole into a bylane in Wazirabad, broke a lock and fled with six goats they packed into a small car parked a distance away – leaving the owners facing losses of Rs 2 lakh and wondering how they will celebrate Bakrid next week.

The heist in the northwest Delhi locality in the early hours of Monday was captured on CCTV cameras, officials said.

The six goats, owned by two men, were kept in an empty plot next to their houses with a lock at the entrance.

The getaway car, an i20, could not make it through the narrow lane, so the three, their faces wrapped up in mufflers, turned back only to return on foot, the CCTV footage showed.

They broke the lock at the entrance with a gas cutter, took out the goats one by one and shoved them into the car parked outside the lane.

A senior police officer said they received a call about the theft at 10.25 am on Monday. Police were told that the goats were bought two months ago to be sacrificed during Bakrid next week, he said.

"It is our sacred custom in which we feed them for a few days before making the sacrifice on Bakrid. The cost of all six was over Rs 2 lakh," said Mohammad Rasikh, owner of four of the stolen goats.

Rasikh, who runs a part-time business, lives with his wife and three children in the house adjacent to the plot where the goats were kept.

"We have informed the police but the possibility of getting them (goats) back is very low. Maybe now, we will celebrate the festival with one or two goats, which I will buy soon," he said.

Mohammad Sakib, who owned two of the stolen goats, said the incident took place when everyone was sleeping. "Somehow, I had collected money to buy the two goats for the sacred sacrifice on Bakrid. I don't have money to buy any more goats," said Sakib, a medical representative. He, too, lives at a house next to the plot. PTI ALK SKY