Burglars delivered the rudest shock to the city cops this year by pulling off a heist to the tune of Rs 30.57 lakh at a reputed jewellery
shop in Gokulpeth. The burglary came to fore on Monday morning when the shop was opened by the owners.
The shop was targeted by the miscreants on Sunday, when the shop was closed. This burglary, which has left the cops with almost no clues at the end of the day, surpassed all other incidents in terms of value of the loot.
The burglar had come prepared and used a mask to avoid being caught on the CCTV cameras installed inside the shop. He damaged two out of the four CCTV cameras installed in the shop. The burglar was also experienced enough to severe the most important wires, leaving the entire electronic surveillance network useless. He also managed to escape without leaving his fingerprints behind, using gloves all through the burglary. He decamped with valuables in four bags, including three belonging to the shop.
Though the two damaged CCTVs did not yield any help to the probe team, the team has images of the masked burglar from two of the sophisticated infra-red enabled CCTVs on the mezzanine floor. These appear to have escaped the burglar's attention as they look like fancy lights. This is the only major clue for the cops, as these images show the burglar going about collecting the loot.
Interestingly, the recordings begin to show the burglar inside the shop from 4.32pm onwards till 8.30pm on Sunday, indicating that the burglary took place when the locality and the road in front is flooded with people, especially on Sundays.
The city police were jolted into action by the news of the shocking incident right in the heart of a busy market area. Ashish Lele, owner of the shop, was left stunned when he opened the shop for business on Monday morning at 8.45am. He generally prefers to come early on Mondays for accounting and stock checking purposes.
Lele was surprised initially while lifting the shutter as the antitheft alarm, which was supposed to go off with the lifting of the shutter, remained silent. However, the ransacked ground floor of the showroom left him in no doubt about what had happened. He rushed to the mezzanine to check the situation there and was stunned to see the empty showcases where the silverware were kept for display.
Lele then called the Ambazari police and his friends and relatives. He also immediately spotted the square gap below one of the showcases on the eastern side of the wall. This was the spot behind the drawer on the mezzanine floor of the jeweller's shop from where the burglar had entered the shop.
Valuables like the gold and diamond jewellery sets on display were missing from their locations when the shop was closed on Saturday. Around 55kg silver worth Rs 17 lakh, diamonds costing around Rs 8.07 lakh and gold valued at nearly Rs 4.90 lakh were stolen from the shop. The locker, which too had substantial stocks of gold and cash, fortunately remained untouched.
ND Ingole, senior inspector of Ambazari police station, said that the police has started combing different pockets in slums and are checking up on former criminals who have a built similar to the one captured in the CCTV camera. "The burglar must have certainly surveyed the locality and the shop very minutely before striking here. The way the burglary was committed it seems to be the handiwork of some very adept miscreants," said Ingole. The cops are also checking the details of former employees who knew about the shops layout.
Lele, who was devastated by the incident, said that such incidents only vitiate the ambience of trading and business in the city. "We are seeking cooperation from the police and our trade associations. The CCTV footage is being continuously monitored by two persons to spot suspects," said Lele.
The case, which was registered at Ambazari police station earlier, was later shifted to the crime branch for a more detailed probe.