Thieves wearing Santa Claus mask target 14 shops, banks in Gurgaon, decamp with cash

Agencies
January 5, 2019

Gurgaon, Jan 5: Thieves in the millennium city of Gurgaon are employing novel tactics to carry out their business: exploiting the cover of dense fog and wearing Santa Claus mask to avoid being recognised, even through CCTV footage.

On Friday morning, a group of 10 thieves targeted 14 commercial establishments in the Khandasa road area and escaped with cash and valuables worth lakhs of rupees, a police officer said.

They struck 10 shops in a commercial complex at Khandsa road, just 500 metres away from ACP Shivaji Nagar office, and four shops and two banks at old jail complex, not more than 300 metres way from police commissioner office, the police officer said.

They tried to drill a hole in the wall of the UCO Bank and the IndusInd Bank branches there but failed to execute their plans after the residents of adjoining houses woke up due to the noise of the machine.

"We believe that it would be a handy work of probably two gangs which utilised the low visibility to commit crime at two different places," the officer said.

The shop owners got to know about the incident on Friday morning when they came to open shops.

They were shocked to find that locks of their shutters were broken.

"We have lost valuables worth at least Rs 50 lakh. The thieves are more thoughtful in their approach in committing crimes compared to crime prevention efforts of the Gurgaon police. Lack of police patrolling in the area is also a reason for these incidents," alleged Sanjeev Kumar, a shop owner at Khandsa road.

Mohan Lal, the manager of UCO bank at old Jail Complex, said that bike lifting is a common thing in the area but a theft bid in banks is a serious issue.

"Learning lesson from this incident, we will deploy additional private security guards in the night and urge local police to increase patrolling in the area," Lal said.

ACP of city police station Rajiv Kumar said, "We have registered an FIR against two unknown thieves who are caught in one of the CCTV cameras in Khandsa road market. However, their faces are not visible as they were wearing the mask of Santa Claus."

During the investigation, it came to light that thieves used gas-cutter, iron rod to cut shutters and drill machines to make holes in the wall.

The police have not much evidence apart from CCTV footage at one place.

As per the CCTV footage, the two thieves visible in the recording, arrive around 3.30 AM and stayed at least 45 minutes to cut the shutters of shops. They stole cash, laptops, mobile phones, fire fighting equipment and other valuables from different shops in these two places, police said.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
April 5,2020

Nagpur, Apr 5: A 23-year-old man allegedly committed suicide in Imambada area in Nagpur on Saturday due to financial distress, police said.

Nikhil Gavhane, who worked in a grocery shop, hanged himself as he had taken money from a person and was stressed over repayment, an official said.

"He was depressed since a week," the Imambada police station official said.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
June 17,2020

Moradabad, Jun 17: Two children died after they accidentally got locked inside a car while playing in Uttar Pradesh's Moradabad, the police said.

Four children, aged between 4 and 7 years, locked themselves inside the car while playing and were found unconscious soon after, the police added.

"All four children were found unconscious in a car and they were taken to the hospital. Two of them died and the other two are undergoing treatment at the hospital," said Amit Kumar Anand, superintendent of police (city) Moradabad.

The children were related to each other, the police said.

The man who owns the car said the children had locked themselves inside. "When we reached, the children were in an unconscious state. Two of the four children died. The incident occurred around 8 am."

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
Agencies
May 26,2020

New Delhi, May 26: A massive fire broke out on the intervening night of Monday and Tuesday in the slums of the Tughlaqabad area in south east Delhi in which over 250 shanties were gutted, however, no one was injured, fire officials said.

Atul Garg, Chief Fire Officer, told IANS, "We came to know about the fire in the slums around 12.15 a.m. following which 28 fire tenders were rushed to the spot. And the fire was brought under control by 4 a.m."

He said, the Tughalaqbad slums have over 500 shanties, out of which over 250 have been destroyed in the fire.

He said, it took time for the fire tenders to reach the spot as it was on the hills, but the fire was doused within four hours and by 8 a.m. cooling off procedure has also been completed.

When asked if there is any casualty in the incident, he said, "No injury or casualty has been reported."

He also said that as of now the actual reason for the fire is not known. "But we are trying to find out the reason of the fire," Garg added.

South East Deputy Commissioner of Police R.P. Meena said, "In the night it seemed that almost 500 shanties were gutted. However, in the morning it became clear that only 250 shanties have been gutted in fire."

He said, the South East district police after receiving the call also rushed the ambulances and the local police team in the area for rescue operation. Meena further said that very few people were residing in the shanties, and the people came out of their shanties after the fire broke out in one of them.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.