Jamshedpur, Aug. 1: Thieves decamped with cash and goods worth over Rs 3.5 lakh from two shops at the Diagonal Road in Bistupur in the wee hours of Monday.
The burglars used iron-cutter for cutting locks and also dismantled the CCTV cameras that the shopkeepers had installed in front of a row of shops.
The shops which have been targeted are Balaji Auto Home, a shop with auto-parts and tyres, and Raju Car Wash, a vehicle washing centre, both located side by side. A third shop on the same row had also been attempted the burglars, but they left it after cutting the locks of the shop’s shutter.
Pradeep Sonthalia, owner of Balaji Auto Home said that he is in state of shock. It was about 9 a.m. on Mondaywhen he discovered the burglary at his shop. He claimed the burglars to have taken away auto-parts from the shelves and Rs 90,000 which he had kept for making payment to a wholesale dealer.
“After reaching the shop from my home in Adityapur, I noticed the shelves were almost empty and the CCTV camera’s wiring dismantled. Then I checked my cash-box which was also empty. Rs 90,000 that I had kept in it was missing,” said Sonthalia (28).
The shopkeeper said soon after he had informed the Bistupur thana, leading a team of cops, led by officer-in-charge, Bistupur thana, Anuj Kumar arrived at the scene for inspection.
Sharing similar worries, owner of the Raju Car Wash, Irshad Ahmed they came to know about the burglary at am when a staff had opened the shop, but found one of the three CCTV cameras missing from its place. He soon lifted the shutter and discovered the LED TV set missing.
Officer-in-charge of Bistupur police station, Anuj Kumar confirmed about the serial burglaries at Bistupur’s Diagonal Road.
“As per initial probe it appears that a professional gang of burglars. Not only they cut locks, but also knew the significance of CCTV cameras. They have, therefore, dismantled the entire CCTV cameras before committing the burglaries,” Kumar.
Significantly, a night-guard posted at the entrance of a nearby temple said that five or six persons had been spotted moving toward the shops where burglaries were reported. �No doubt, most of the showrooms, regardless of its size and clientele strength, have installed CCTV’s in the shops and they have earned the results too, from time to time but these measures are.
Moreover, break-in in shops, thefts from scooter or motorcycle carriers and pick pocketing are at an all time high.
Apart from such crimes, a number of residential complexes have also witnessed a spate of robberies “We have noticed that most of the cases of burglary and thefts have been reported during the night so we have decided to appoint night guards who will provide protection during the night till the sunrise,” said a shop owner.