Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru
Mangaluru, Apr 3: A major gold theft case has been reported in Permude, where burglars broke into the house of Janwin Pinto, located along State Highway 67, and stole approximately 1 kg of gold jewellery on Monday. The police have intensified their investigation and are actively working to trace the culprits.
On Wednesday, crime and traffic DCP Ravishankar, CCB ACP Manoj Nayak, Panambur ACP K Srikant, fingerprint experts, intelligence officers, and Bajpe inspector Sandeep visited the crime scene to assess the situation.
House owner Janwin Pinto, who resides in Kuwait, along with his son Praveen Pinto, arrived at the house on Wednesday afternoon. The police collected information from them regarding the stolen gold, other missing valuables, and the house locker keys.
The incident has raised concerns as the house was equipped with 16 CCTV cameras and had eight guard dogs. However, the burglars appeared to have meticulously planned the crime. Instead of approaching from the front gate, which had CCTV surveillance, they climbed over the compound wall from a side dirt road where cameras were absent. They gained entry by breaking the window grille and even adjusted a nearby CCTV camera to avoid detection.
The break-in occurred through a room at the rear of the house, where a refrigerator containing food for the dogs was kept. The workers reported that the fridge door was left unlatched, explaining why the dogs were not alerted to the intruders.
Once inside, the burglars broke the locks of the locker room and an adjacent bedroom. They also ransacked the owner's bedroom, leaving valuables scattered. The lock of a first-floor room was also found broken.
Strikingly, the burglars did not force open the locker but instead used three different keys to unlock it, suggesting they had prior knowledge of the keys' location. This raises questions about how they accessed the information, as the owners had left the keys inside the house before traveling. The burglars took only the gold, leaving behind other valuables, including documents and watches.
Despite the presence of Mudhol and German Shepherd breeds, the burglars faced no resistance as the dogs were locked in their kennels. Although the owners had instructed the workers to release the dogs at night, the workers reportedly failed to do so, which is now being seen as a costly mistake.
Around 1 AM on Monday night, a brief power outage was reported in the area, leading to suspicions that the burglars might have orchestrated it to aid their crime.
Janwin Pinto also owns a commercial complex opposite his residence, which houses a bank and several shops. Reports suggest that the burglars took precautions to ensure they were not captured on CCTV cameras installed in these establishments.
The police are actively investigating all angles to track down the culprits.