Cash, jewellery, worth 52 lakh burgled from bizman's home

MUMBAI: In a major burglary, jewellery and cash collectively worth Rs 52.5 lakh were stolen from the Santa Cruz residence of a businessman on Thursday.
The police said the incident occurred when the complainant, Motilal Shah (77)-a resident of Parijat building on Saraswati Road in Santa Cruz (W)-was in his shop with son Nirmal Shah (41).
The father-son duo ran a garment shop in the Khar telephone exchange area."Motilal and his son were away from 12.30 pm to 10 pm in their shop. It was during this time that the burglars entered the house by breaking the lock of the house. They broke open the cupboards with specialized tools and decamped with 2.45 kg of gold jewellery valued at Rs 46,60,000, silver jewellery worth Rs 1,40,000 and Rs 4,50,000 in cash," said senior inspector Madhukar Chowdhary of the Santa Cruz police.
"When I returned, I saw the lock to the main door missing. On stepping inside, we saw the lock kept on the dining table. That's when we got alarmed and rushed inside, only to discover ransacked wooden cupboards," said Motilal Shah.
One of the cupboards had all the drawers broken with sharp tools while the other had an iron cupboard inside the wooden one. "We were not in a habit of locking this iron cupboard. The thieves found it convenient to break into it after they broke the wooden cupboard."
The Shahs informed the Santa Cruz police and inquiries revealed that an immediate neighbour of the family, Dione Shah, had heard a noise around 7 pm. "I heard some noise of furniture being moved around. But I thought they (Shahs) were back early and didn't pay any attention to what was going on," Dione said.
No one else stays with the father-son duo in their Santa Cruz home. Motilal Shah has two daughters who are married and live elsewhere in Mumbai. Incidentally, the watchman of the building was asked to leave four months ago following a dispute among residents of the building.
A case has been registered against unidentified burglars under Sections 454, 457 and 380 of IPC. The police are on the lookout for the culprits.