Burglars struck on Saturday when the building watchman stepped out to bring an LPG cylinder for another resident
The Dattawadi police have registered a case of house break-in after unidentified miscreants burgled a flat and decamped with 182 gold items worth Rs 19.84 lakh on Saturday afternoon.
The incident took place in the flat of a jeweller Nitin Uttamchand Mutha (27), a resident of Rutubandh society in Narhe.
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Police said the thieves took advantage of the absence of the building watchman, who was reportedly sent by a society member to fetch an LPG cylinder. Police haven’t ruled out the hand of an insider and have registered a case under sections 454, 457 of the IPC.
Investigation officer, Assistant Police Inspector Jyoti Gadkari, from Dattawadi police station, said, “Mutha resides with his brother at his flat in Rutubandh Society. They had both stepped out on Saturday morning for some work. Mutha has a jewellery shop in Wadgaon Dhayri, and deals in gold loans. There was 793.77 milligrams of gold — 182 gold items in total — worth Rs 19.84 lakh kept inside his house.”
“Rutubandh apartment has 50 flats, and there was a watchman appointed to guard the society. On Saturday afternoon, the watchman was asked by one of the society members to bring his LPG cylinder. The watchman had gone out to bring the cylinder when the unidentified suspects gained entry into Mutha’s flat by breaking the lock of the grille door of the flat,” API Gadkari added.
“We have appealed to citizens several times, asking them to appoint full-time watchmen and not to give any household chores to them. The job of the watchman is to guard the society and not to run personal chores. Citizens who buy flats worth lakhs of rupees don’t pay enough to the watchmen, because of which they try to earn extra by doing household work. Unless citizens take extra precaution, such crimes like burglary can’t be prevented,” API Gadkari stated.
Meanwhile, Additional Commissioner of Police Chandrashekhar Daithankar, Deputy Commissioner of Police Shirish Sardeshpande and other officials visited the crime scene and gave orders. “We are investigating the case from all angles, including the role of any insiders,” said API Gadkari said.