Stereo thieves mute 11 cars

In a daring robbery that left the city police facing the music from angry citizens, a gang of robbers stole stereos from 11 cars in the wee hours of Wednesday. The stereos were stolen from the cars that belonged to residents of Neel Harsh and Sushmita Apartments near Anjali crossroads in Vasna.

According to a complaint filed by Hitesh Soni, a resident of Neel Harsh apartment, whose car was also broken into, the total worth of the musical heist was around Rs43,900.

"Thieves broke into 11 cars located in the parking lot of the two apartment and stole car stereos worth Rs 43,900," Soni said. Sources said that the cars that were broken into included a Maruti Swift, Hyundai Ascent, Honda City, Bolero and other such expensive cars. It seems that the thieves' first attempted to steal stereos from cars parked near Sushmita flats. Initially, the accused had reached Sushmita flats in the area where they had attempted to break into two cars.

However, during the attempt, one Deepak Dhobhi who runs a laundry shop in the area woke up.  When Dhobhi realised that a robbery was in progress, he soon alerted two more people. The trio then started shouting for help. The resulting commotion and the noise scared the thieves who fled the scene and reached Neel Harsh apartment. The apartment is adjacent to Sushmita flats.

There the thieves successful broke into several cars and made good with the stereos. Though Dhobhi has not registered a complaint in the matter, Soni has filed one with the police. Narrating the incident Dhobhi told DNA, "When I woke up in the middle of the night, I saw two to three people in front of the cars parked near the building." "I woke up some friends of mine and we began screaming for help. This brought many people to the place," he said.

"As soon as the thieves realised that people were waking up and soon a crowd would gather at the place, they fled the scene afraid of being caught," he said.

A team from the Forensic Science Laboratory, dog squad and the Vejalupr police immediately reached the spot where the crime took place.  It is suspected that the thieves arrived in a Maruti fronti car.  There were allegedly three of them in the car and all of them were in the age group of 25 years to 30 years.

Vejalpur police officials said that the gang seemed to be a highly professional one. They suspect that members of the notorious Charra Gang might be at work here. A case has been registered with the police and they are investigating the case.