Jewellery worth Rs35 lakh stolen after owner goes on two-hour lunch break

The thieves drilled a hole into the shop through a closed adjacent shop in an under construction building in Naigaon

A two-hour lunch break was enough time for a group of thieves to steal jewellery worth Rs 35 lakh and Rs 60,000 cash from a jewellery shop in Naigaon on Monday afternoon.

Bhairon Singh Dulawat, the owner of the shop, interacts with a cop after the incident.(Surendra Negi/HT)

The thieves were seen, in the CCTV footage, entering the shop by drilling a hole from the next shop which was empty. They first unscrewed the windows of the unoccupied shop and after entering that, they drilled a hole into the common wall it shared with the jewellery shop. While the shop appeared shut from outside as the employees had gone out for lunch, the thieves were making away with 1,700 gm gold,16 kg silver ornaments and Rs 60,000 cash from the shop called Chamunda Jewellers.

Although, Vasai police have claimed that jewellery worth Rs 34.90 lakh has been stolen,the owner said he has lost much more than that in the heist as he had stocked up a lot of jewellery purchased from Opera House due to the Ganpati festival.

The hole the thieves had drilled to enter the jewellery store. (Surendra Negi/HT)

Bhairon Singh Dulawat, 35, a resident of Reliable Garden, Naigaon, had shifted his store to an under construction building in Wakipada,Naigaon a week ago. On Monday afternoon, he had closed the shop for lunch from 2pm to 4pm, and during this period, unidentified men performed the theft. However, the CCTV inside the shop captured at least two thieves who had their faces covered with cloth, said a Waliv police official.

One of the two accused who have been caught in the act on the CCTV camera. (Surendra Negi/HT)

When Dulawat opened the shop,post lunch, he was shocked to find all the jewellery missing and he complained to us,said the police official. “We have registered cases for house trespass and theft under relevant sections of the IPC and are investigatingthe matter. Also, we feel that it is a clear insider job as they knew the daily routine of Dulawat and they did not touch the fake jewellery on display.,” said the official. No arrest has been made so far. The hole is a mere foot in diameter,which is enough for a thin person to enter and loot the shop,said the official.

Dulawat told HT, “ I have lost around jewellery worth Rs 60 lakh including cash,as I had stocked fresh jewellery procured from Opera House,due to Ganesh Chaturthi. I was expecting a good sale, but the police have registered only Rs 34.90 lakhs as jewellery lost in the heist.”

IN THE PAST

• In 2014, thieves struck Omkar Jewellers in Virar (West) and stole jewellery worth Rs 2.49 crore
• In 2015, Minaxi Jewellers,Virar was looted of Rs 1 crore jewellery
• The same year, Mahalaxmi Jewellers were looted of crores in Chandansar Road,Virar (East) but no arrest has been made.