Silvester D'Souza
Daijiworld Media Network - Kundapur (SP)

Kundapur, Jul 2: Thieves who entered a shop dealing in mobile phones located at Koteshwar near here late night on Wednesday July 1, made good their escape with cell phones worth lacs of rupees. The incident came to light on Thursday morning.

'Sannidhi Mobile Care', which is housed in Sri Kotilingeshwara Towers by the side of national highway 66 at Koteshwar became the victim of this large scale theft. As per an estimate, the thieves have taken away over 60 new cell phones, totally worth over Rs 4.5 lac.

This shop is owned by Suresh Poojary, a resident of Hale Alive in Koteshwar. This shop has been operational in the first floor of the above building since the last five to six years. Poojary returned home as usual after locking the shop at the end of the day on Wednesday. When he came to the shop on Thursday morning, he found that the shutter of the shop was half open. A careful inspection revealed that thieves had struck, after which he complained to the police.

It is gathered that Suresh Poojary had cultivated the practice of taking home almost all the new cell phones at the time of closing the shop. Because of the onset of rainy season, since the last two weeks, he had stopped this practice. People have expressed concern about the fact that theft had occurred in a shop located by the side of the highway without anyone noticing it.

The thieves have broken both the locks of the shutter before crawling into the shop. They took away all the new cell phones kept inside the show cases and other spots. The owner of the shop has guessed that over 60 such phones have been stolen, inflicting on him a loss of Rs 4.5 lac.

Serial thefts have been occurring in Udupi and Karkala taluks since the last couple of days. The police have expressed the suspicion that a huge racket of thieves is active in the district now. Serial thefts had also occurred at Koteshwar last year, in which a mobile shop and jewellery shop had lost heavily.

Deputy superintendent of police, Manjunath Shetty, police circle inspector, Diwakar, sub-inspector, Nassir Hussain, and others visited the spot and conducted inspection. Sniffer dogs and finger print experts were also pressed into service. The sniffer dog returned after sniffing the lead for a short distance from the shop. It is being analyzed that the thieves would have parked their vehicle at a distance from the shop before committing theft and returning to their vehicle.

A case stands registered in the local police station. Investigation is in progress.