Thieves loot shop after digging tunnel under it, second time in four years

This is the second time the thieves have targeted the same shop, using same modus operandi. The shop is next to a police station

Thieves dug a three-foot-long tunnel and looted valuables from a shop near the Dombivli railway station on Sunday, second time in four years. In 2014 also, thieves targeted the same shop , used the same strategy and walked away with Rs 32,000 in cash.

A man surveys the opening of the tunnel in the shop near the Dombivili railway station (HT photo)

The Ramnagar police and the Government Railway Police (GRP) are investigating the case. No arrests have been made so far.

On Sunday, the thieves, who are still at large, fled with expensive clothes, bags, umbrellas, perfumes, mobile phones, and Rs 9000 in cash from the shop located right next to the police station. The shop is run by a cooperative society formed by workers of Central Railway.

The incident took place late at night on September 3, when the shop was closed, and the case was registered at the police station only five days later.

On September 4, a Tuesday and a day after the robbery happened, the shop remained closed as per their policy. The next day, 54-year-old Namdeo Chaudhuri, one of the shop’s salesmen found the store to be missing most of its items. According to the police, the thieves dug the tunnel from near the railway track line near platform No 7.

“We had registered a case with the GRP. We realised the shop falls under the jurisdiction of Ramnagar police station and hence we have transferred the case,” said Satish Pawar, senior police inspector, Dombivli GRP.

Ramnagar police said they are looking for any clues that the thieves would have left behind.

Last year in November, thieves dug a tunnel under a Navi Mumbai branch of a bank and broke into 30 lockers, stealing valuables worth Rs5-6 crore.