Silvester D'Souza
Daijiworld Media Network - Kundapur (EP)
Kundapur, Jul 16: Thieves broke into seven shops in four complexes situated along the national highway in Thekkatte on the night of Friday July 15 and decamped with cash and expensive goods.
Thieves entered a jewelry shop, two hardware shops, a medical store, two shops selling electrical items and a condiments shop. The thieves left behind items and cash in the electrical shop. The value of stolen items exceeds Rs 1 lac, sources said.
The jewellery store is owned by Sridhar Acharya. The thieves entered the store by breaking the shutters and took away silver weighing more than 2 kg. The thieves could not find gold as the owner has been taking the gold home every evening. Some of the silver items were found lying behind the Thekkatte bus stand.
The thieves also broke into Krishna Medicals in the commercial complex where the jewellery store is located. They have ransacked the shop for cash and took away more than Rs 15,000 from the cash box. The thieves also entered another complex on the opposite side of the highway and took away Rs 3,000 from a hardware shop owned by Sanath Kumar Shetty there.
They also entered Vijayalaxmi Traders belonging to Manjunath Mogaveera in another complex nearby and stole Rs 3,000. They broke the shutters of Sharada Electrical Service owned by Srinath and Ekadantha Auto Electricals owned by Mohan, but returned as they could not get any cash there. They broke into another shop near Mahalingeshwara temple and took away Rs 1,000, cigarettes, cold drinks, biscuits etc from there.
The thieves broke the shutters with the help of a hydraulic jack. CCTV images revealed that six persons were involved in the act.
Among the six thieves, one kept a watch on the movements of vehicles on the highway. The remaining five broke the shutters and looted the shops. They completed the series of thefts in just about two hours, as per images obtained from CCTV cameras.
As it is rainy season there are very few people and less traffic along the highway, especially during the night. The thieves did not get much cash to steal. However, the broken shutters have caused more loss than the amount looted.
Canine squad was pressed into action. Forensic experts too conducted investigations. Udupi DySP Kumaraswamy, Brahmavar circle inspector Srikanth, Kota SI Kabbalraj and others visited the place.