New Delhi, Dec 22 (IANS) A teenaged leader of a juvenile gang and his 20-year-old accomplice have been arrested here for ransacking houses in government colonies of south Delhi and then lighting fires inside them, police said Tuesday.
The teenager, whose name cannot be disclosed under juvenile justice rules, and his accomplice Sanjay were arrested Monday for burglaries and arson in government flats in Sarojini Nagar and in nearby areas.

“For the past few months there was a spate of burglaries in government flats in and around Sarojini Nagar. A group of minor children was indulged in many such incidents. These juveniles used to set the burgled houses on fire after ransacking them,” said Deputy Commissioner of Police (south Delhi) H.G.S. Dhaliwal.

A fortnight earlier the accused had burgled the house of a defence ministry employee in Laxmibai Nagar when the family was away in Punjab. They then set it on fire.

“Sanjay had been arrested earlier but the juvenile leader could not be apprehended since 96 his escape from the Children’s Home May 5. The boy had escaped with 34 other juveniles,” Dhaliwal added.