Daijiworld Media Network – Kundapur (SP)

Kundapur, Feb 21: A gang of thieves, which forced its way into two jewellery shops and a provision store located on the main road near the old bus stand here on the night of Saturday February 19, took away gold and silver ornaments apart from cash. The loss to the shops has been estimated at Rs 27 lac.

The thieves yanked the centre lock along with its shutter off the front door of Shet Jewellers. They took away ornaments weighing about a kilogram, and 15 kgs of silver ornaments, leaving behind some of the gold ornaments untouched. A complaint filed by the owner of the shop has given the value of the items so stolen as Rs 26 lac.

The thieves also took away three kgs of silver ornaments from Vani Jewellers, worth about one lac rupees. Although they then targeted a provision store owned by Venkataramana Prabhu, they could not lay their hands on any valuables or cash. The gang also tried to break the lock of Kamakshi Jewellers nearby, and it is thought that they fled away, after seeing some movements on the road.

The local policemen, finger print experts, and sniffer dogs, arrived at the spot immediately after being informed of the incident. Assistant superintendent of police, Ram Niwas Sepath, circle inspector, Madan Gaonkar, sub inspector of police (crime), Timma Shetty, sub-inspector of Shankaranarayana police station, Jayant, were involved with spot inspection.

The policemen observed that gold ornaments had not been kept in the strong room, as is the practice, by Shet Jewellers. Moreover, the closed circuit television, which had been fitted, was not kept operational. The key of the locker too was left in the shop itself, and no security staff were engaged.  The policemen said that the thieves have used hydraulic jack to break the lock, which indicates that they are professionals. The theft would have taken place after 12 pm, as the policemen on patrol duty did not notice anything fishy when they covered this place at around that time, the policemen said.

On Sunday night, three persons, who were doing something by the side of East Block Road here, ran away after a pedestrian turned his torchlight towards them. On verification, a steal box and five kgs of copper coins stolen from Shet Jewellers were found lying there. This has made the policemen to suspect that the thieves had hidden the valuables stolen in or around the city.