Watchman foils Rs 80 lakhs heist

Watchman foils Rs 80 lakhs heist
HERALD REPORTER
MARGAO, SEPT 14
An alert watchman foiled a major burglary in a jewellery shop late Monday night and helped nab two notorious criminals from Mumbai, who carried out a survey of the shops by staying in a three-star hotel at Colva.
The burglars —  Rajkumar Chowdhary (Bihar) and Vijay kumar Singh (Uttar Pradesh), but settled at Mira Road, Mumbai – nearly laid their hands on gold ornaments worth Rs 80 lakhs in the jewellery shop owned by Pawan Raikar at the New Market, before the watchman foiled their plan.
The incident occurred at around 9.30 p.m. when the duo came on the rear side of the shop and began digging a hole to enable entry.
Margao Police Inspector Santosh Desai said the watchman made his routine presence behind the shops at around 11.30 pm, only to find the duo busy digging a hole. “He immediately raised an alarm and with the help of the people and police, managed to arrest one of them”, he informed.
He said the second accused escaped under the cover of darkness towards the Margao railway station and with the help of a rickshaw, headed towards the Colva hotel, where he was nabbed by a waiting police party.
Desai said that both the accused are hardcore criminals and were equipped with a bag containing almost all implements and instruments required for burglaries.
Meanwhile, Margao sub divisional police officer, Deputy  Superintendent of Police Umesh Gaonkar said the police are investigating whether the arrested accused  had any hand in a daring burglary in 2007, wherein gold ornaments worth lakhs of rupees were looted.
“It is just a coincidence that last night’s burglary was attempted on the fourth day of Ganesh Chathurti. We are investigating into all aspects, including the role played by the accused in the 2007 burglary”, Gaonkar added.