The 23-year-old woman in custody with Mohammad Anees, her boyfriend

NEW DELHI: Love bites on a young woman’s neck helped crack a robbery that turned out to be an inside job, police said.

When Salauddin (name changed) returned to his east Delhi home on Tuesday afternoon, he was shocked to see the house had been ransacked and his soon-to-be-married daughter tied to the bed. Around Rs 2 lakh in cash and all the jewellery were missing.

Police, however, cracked the “sensational robbery” within hours and arrested the businessman’s 23-year-old daughter and her boyfriend, Mohammad Anees (34), for staging the crime. Police said the breakthrough came after love bites on the neck of the woman who had been tied to the bed made them suspicious. Cops then interviewed her and found her statements were inconsistent.

When her phone was checked, it was found to be formatted. The cops then scanned her call details and reached a man who had been in regular touch with her and had also been in the vicinity of the house when the crime was committed.

Police were alerted about the robbery on Tuesday afternoon. DCP (north-east) Ajit Singla formed several teams, led by ACP (Seelampur) Shashank Jaiswal, to investigate the case.

Salauddin told the police that he and his family members had gone shopping for their daughter’s marriage, scheduled for next month. Initially, the cops were told the robbers had taken away more than Rs 20 lakh in cash and jewellery.

Police rounded up several “criminals” of the area, questioned the scrap dealers and vegetable vendors and scanned footage from CCTV cameras in the area, but got no clue.

After the team stationed at the house to quiz the girl about the identity of the robbers suspected her to be complicit, they detained the woman’s boyfriend. The youth revealed the details under sustained interrogation and led the police to the booty. DCP Singla confirmed that all valuables and cash had been recovered.

During questioning, the couple disclosed they had planned to elope after stealing money from the woman’s house. The woman did not want to get married to the doctor her parents had chosen for her. She claimed to the police that she had already married Mohammad Anees in 2015 and that her parents had been forcing her to get married to someone else.

As the youth belonged to a different caste, she had been scared to inform her family about her 2015 marriage. However, as the wedding date neared, the two decided to elope. The woman was aware her father had brought home some money and had bought jewellery for the wedding, so they decided to steal it, police said.

The couple were produced before a magistrate who remanded them in judicial custody in Tihar jail for 14 days.

