Jewellery store robbed of Rs 40 lakh just 10 days after opening

A daring daylight theft at jewellery store at Naigaon saw unidentified thieves run off with more than Rs 40 lakh, just ten days after its inaugration. Chamunda Jewellers, located at Wakipada near the Bapane Police Chowki on the main road, was broken into by the thieves and the store's CCTV camera showed them first drill a major hole in the wall of the neighbouring shop. The robbers decamped with gold and silver ornaments worth over Rs 40 lakh.

"We had inaugurated the store ten days back and as usual we left for lunch at 2 pm. We returned by 4 pm only to find that the ornaments were missing. The thieves had entered the store from the hole made in the wall through the adjacent shop", said Bhairav Singh, owner of the store. "We checked the CCTV footage but could not recognize the thief," Singh added.

Police officials suspect the work of a gang. "We believe that there is the involvement of more than one person in the entire incident and that they had conducted the recce before entering the store. We are checking the CCTV footage of the locality to identify the thieves," said an official from Palghar local crime branch.

"We have registered a case under section 454 (house breaking) and 380 (theft) of the Indian Penal Code against unknown person(s) at Valiv police station," said Anil Akade, Deputy Superindent Vasai Region.

"We have formed teams from the crime branch and the detection squad to establish the identity of the accused. Further investigations are on," said Akade.