Gang breaks into 2 shops in Palghar, leaves only with cupcakes

The thieves lifting the shutters of the cake shop

A gang of four, suspected to be a couple and their two children, broke into two adjacent shops in Palghar in the wee hours last week. Interestingly, one of the shops is a cake manufacturing unit, where the man broke open the shutter lock using an iron rod and pulled it up to create a narrow space to sneak into the shop.

"The gang members pretended to be rag pickers. The couple was carrying a sack at the time of the offence. The man first entered the cake shop, ate a few cakes, picked up a few cupcakes for his accomplices, apparently his wife and two children, and came out of the shop discreetly. The cost of the cakes eaten is R500," said investigating officer PSI Ramesh Palve of Palghar police station.

Also Read: Mumbai: Woman thrashes railway staffer for stealing her mobile phone

One of the thieves captured in the CCTV inside one of the shops

"Later, the man broke into the adjacent digital board shop. He tried to break into the drawer containing cash but his attempts failed. There were other valuables kept outside but he did not pick those up. It seems he was in an inebriated state," said Palve.

Also Read: Three minors arrested for sodomising and murdering 15-year-old boy in Gurugram

The next morning, when the cake shop owner Ishwar Sonar reached his shop he found the lock of the shutter broken. Later, when Sonar enquired with the people from the shops around about the incident, he got to know that Shafiq Jumani, the owner of digital board shop, too had been targeted in the night.

Local residents and shopowners told mid-day that this was the third attempt at housebreaking in the last one week in Palghar, but the accused had not been arrested. Last week, the owners went to Palghar police station and registered a case against unknown people. The cops have been searching for the accused but none have been arrested so far.

Also Read: Teenage brothers kill pregnant woman for marrying outside caste

Catch up on all the latest Crime, National, International and Hatke news here. Also download the new mid-day Android and iOS apps to get latest updates