What is interesting to note is that though the theft had taken place on Tuesday, a complaint to this effect was not made to the Margao police till Wednesday evening. It was only at around 8.45 pm that the Collectorate head clerk lodged a formal complaint with the Margao police station of the theft of smoke detectors. The complaint came after officials put a note before the district Collector, Venancio Furtado Wednesday evening with a request to lodge a formal
complaint with the police.
The loss on account of the theft is being ascertained, but sources said the value may be pegged at around Rs 2 lakh, even as an official said the accused person has been identified through the CCTV footage. Around 42 detectors were lifted away from the ground floor and three each from the first and second floor. The incident is believed to have occurred on Tuesday.
A Collectorate staff is believed to have confronted the alleged accused when he was found tampering with the device near the Sub Registrar office. The man, however, claimed that he was an employee of the company, which had fitted the devices.
However, when questioned to produce his identify, the accused replied saying that he has left the maintenance letter in his two-wheeler and made good his escape under the pretext of bringing the letter from the scooter.
It was only later that realisation dawned on the Collectorate staff that the accused had lifted away around 48 such devices, bringing to the fore the question on the security of the Collectorate building, which is being manned round-the-clock by 40 security personnel.
