Burglar breaks into jewellery store to find disappointment

A 19-year-old burglar went through all the trouble of climbing up on the roof of a jewellery store, making a hole there and jumping inside, only to find that the owner had locked up the valuables in a safe as the store had to undergo repairs. The burglar fled with silver trinkets worth ₹18,000 but was arrested on Friday.

Mumbai: A 19-year-old burglar went through all the trouble of climbing up on the roof of a jewellery store, making a hole there and jumping inside, only to find that the owner had locked up the valuables in a safe as the store had to undergo repairs. The burglar fled with silver trinkets worth ₹18,000 but was arrested on Friday.

Burglar breaks into jewellery store to find disappointment

The accused is Subrati Khan, 19, and after preliminary questioning confirmed his involvement in the crime, he was placed under arrest early on Friday.

According to the Mankhurd police, the incident came to light on Tuesday morning when Dhruv Soni, the owner of the Dhruv Jewellers in Mankhurd, opened up his store at 11 am and found it to be burgled.

“The store is based in a single-storey structure in Mandala, Mankhurd, and Soni found that someone had entered the store by uprooting a part of the tin roof and jumping inside. Silver trinkets worth ₹18,000, which had been in a display case, were missing from the store and there was also evidence to indicate that someone had made a failed attempt to break open the safe in the store,” said an officer with the Mankhurd police station.

The officer added that last week, Soni had placed all the gold and diamond jewellery inside the safe, as the store was undergoing repairs. After the repair work was done, the shop was shut for business from Sunday to Tuesday, during which time the burglary was committed.

Soni subsequently reported the matter to the police and an FIR was registered against unknown persons. The police then viewed Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) camera footage from several cameras on the street where the store is located, and spotted the accused.

“We searched through our database but did not find any matches for the accused, indicating that he had no past criminal record. We then circulated stills of the footage that had captured his face among local informants,” the officer said.

On Thursday evening, the police received a tip off that a man corresponding to the appearance of the accused was staying in the vicinity of the jewellery store. The police picked up the suspect, Khan, from his residence and brought him to the police station for inquiries.

Khan has allegedly told his interrogators that he had scoped out the store for several days last month and seen a lot of gold and diamond jewellery on display, which is why he decided to burgle it. He broke into the store in the early hours of Tuesday morning but was shocked to find none of the jewellery he had seen earlier.

“Khan tried to break open the safe but failed, after which he left with the silver trinkets, collectively weighing around 300 grams. We are verifying his involvement in any unsolved burglary cases registered with other police stations and are also in the process of recovering the jewellery he stole from Soni’s shop,” said the officer.