The nazir’s room at the Panaji criminal court in Goa was burgled on Tuesday night with the thief stealing seized gold and currency that were kept as ‘case property’ in several cases, police said.
The thief, however, left behind the ‘demonetised’ notes and police said they suspect it to be an insider’s act.
The burglary was noticed on Wednesday morning and as per an initial analysis gold, jewellery and currency notes were reported missing from the cupboards of the nazir’s room.
“It seems like somebody who is well versed with the functioning of the court is involved. There is no forced entry and from the CCTV recordings we have seen that has not happened in the night. It happened yesterday (Tuesday) evening. So, we think that the suspect would have stayed back and he would have gone directly to the place where the old case properties are kept, that means the suspect was aware where these properties will be lying,” said North Goa superintendent of police (SP) Nidhin Valsan.
“One interesting thing was that the notes are of different denominations. So, the old (demonetised) notes of ₹500 and 1000 have not been taken. He has tried to sort it out also. He has taken everything of value. Some money and gold ornaments would have been taken,” he added.
{{/usCountry}}“One interesting thing was that the notes are of different denominations. So, the old (demonetised) notes of ₹500 and 1000 have not been taken. He has tried to sort it out also. He has taken everything of value. Some money and gold ornaments would have been taken,” he added.
{{/usCountry}}The officers of the court and the police are working to ascertain the list of items that are lost, he added.
Based on the preliminary findings the police have ruled out the possibility of the burglary being a ruse to destroy the evidence related to a case, and have said the primary motive and intention appears to be to steal.
“As of now it looks like it was a plan to steal the old case properties which have got gold and money,” he added.