Mumbai Crime: Chaddi-clad men make off with 450 high-end phones

Borivli shop owner Shantibhai Satara shows his ransacked mobile store

To watch chaddi-clad men drop down through the roof might amuse you, but it has left this Borivli shop owner aghast, and understandably so. His mobile phone store was ransacked of more than 450 smartphones as well as lakhs in cash in the wee hours of Tuesday by three burglars, who broke in by making a hole in the roof.

The total worth of the entire booty has been estimated at Rs 1.27 crore, which includes Rs 5 lakh cash.

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Three burglars make a hole in the cement roof of the cellphone shop on Kasturba Marg in Borivli, Hari Om Mobile, and enter -- one fully clothed, one in his shirt and underwear, and the third only in his undergarments.

Laid bare
The brazen burglary, which took place at Hari Om Mobile located on Kasturba Road, came to light in the morning when Shantibhai Satara opened the shutter to his shop. Satara said he entered and found a hole in the ceiling and empty boxes of mobile phones of different companies strewn around.

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Police sources said that though the culprits damaged the CCTVs installed inside the shop, a recording of the incident was saved in the complainant's mobile phone, which he had connected to the cameras via an app.

While two of them start removing the costly smartphones from their respective boxes, pocketing the phones and discarding the boxes, the third one works on dismantling the CCTV cameras installed in the shop

The footage showed three men with their faces covered, one fully clothed, one wearing just a shirt and underwear, and the third only in his underwear, drop down in the shop after making a hole in the roof.

Probe on
"I found more than 450 empty mobile phone boxes of Apple, Samsung, HTC, Vivo and Oppo among other brands scattered across the shop. The DVR system of the CCTV cameras is also missing. The thieves seemed to have escaped the same way they came, through the roof," said Satara.

After taking more than 450 handsets belonging to different companies, as well as pocketing R5 lakh, the one just in his underwear dons a shirt, and the three of them make their escape. Illustration/ Uday Mohite

Senior inspector of Kasturba Marg police station Satish Rao confirmed that a house break-in case has been registered. "The exact value of the entire booty is still being calculated. We are conducting a panchnama and making a list of the stolen phones," he said, adding that they have launched a search for the accused based on what was captured on the CCTVs.