Mohan Kuthar
With Additional Pics by Spoorthi Ullal
Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru (SP)

Mangaluru, Jul 1: Thieves who gained entry into seven shops near Konaje succeeded in taking away various things worth over five lac rupees on the night of Tuesday June 30. The shops they entered include a studio and shops dealing in mobile phones.

These shops are located near the ladies hostel of Mangalore University. Three SLR cameras worth about two lac rupees are said to have been stolen from 'Amma Studio' belonging to a press photographer. Cell phones and chargers valued at about two lac rupees were reportedly stolen from the mobile shop owned by Sahal.

Another mobile shop owned by Harish suffered loss of about Rs 20,000 in the form of cell phones. Cash and cigarette packets were stolen from, 'Ravi Xerox', a provision store belonging to Muhammed N K, a bakery owned by Sadiq and Ideal Juice Centre, all of which are located adjacent to each other.

Shutters of most of the shops were found broken open by the thieves. There are signs of some chemical having been used by the thieves at certain spots, reportedly to erase finger prints if any left behind by them.

Konaje police personnel and finger print experts visited the spot and undertook investigation.

Fire at Konaje shop inflicts heavy loss on hard-working owner

A shop dealing in hardware and located at Jodukatte near Konaje here was completely gutted in the wee hours of Wednesday July 1. The loss in this fire accident has been estimated at Rs 35 lac.

This shop is owned by Sahul Hameed, resident of Kisan Nagara in Harekala. No plausible reasons could be attributed to the igniting of fire at this shop.

Sahul Hameed, who hails from a very poor family, was operating this shop along with his brothers since the last two years with great difficulty. It is said that the business at the shop had gained momentum in the recent past. Hameed says that he had cultivated the habit of putting off the main switch before closing the shop at night. He has asserted that there is no chance of fire having been started because of electrical short circuit.

Some people who were passing by the shop in a car during early hours of Wednesday saw that smoke was emanating from this shop. They conveyed this information to the police, who in turn, called the fire brigade. However, by the time something could be done, the entire shop was turned into a heap of ashes.

It looked as if the shutter of the shop had been lifted a little. Therefore, the policemen are also looking at the possibility of this tragedy being the handiwork of miscreants, who would have torched the shop by using the gap in the shutters.

Fire brigade personnel arrived at the spot and helped in completely extinguishing the fire. In addition to the stock inside the shop, the building too has suffered extensive damage in the fire. A fancy centre located by the side of the hardware shop has also suffered losses.

Konaje police visited the spot. Zilla panchayat member, N S Karim, taluk panchayat member, Muhammed Mustafa, and others visited the area and tried to instill courage and confidence in the owners of the shop who seemed to have been shattered by this misfortune. Konaje police are investigating the matter.