Eight shops burgled in Mylapore

Burglars decamp with cash from five shops and phones from a mobile shop

February 19, 2018 01:09 am | Updated 07:27 am IST - CHENNAI

CCTV footage showed a middle-aged man walking towards a shop with a crowbar and breaking the lock.

CCTV footage showed a middle-aged man walking towards a shop with a crowbar and breaking the lock.

Unknown persons broke into eight shops in Mylapore and decamped with cash from five of them during the early hours on Sunday.

According to police, the burglars stole ₹70,000 from a bakery, ₹14,000 from a fair price shop, some cell phones from a mobile shop and cash from another shop.

On Sunday around 3.15 a.m, when V. Chandru, who runs a vegetable shop on Mundakakanni Amman Koil Street in Mylapore, came to open his shop, he found the lock missing. It was lying by the side of his shop.

“I come to the shop in the morning to take the cash and leave for Koyambedu market. I went inside the shop and noticed that ₹2,500 was missing,” he said.

He alerted the Mylapore police about the break-in and they checked the other shops in the locality.

They noticed that the burglars had targeted an Amutham fair price shop opposite the vegetable shop, a bakery, a mobile shop and another small shop situated close to the elevated track near the MRTS station.

Call from police

“The police called and informed me about the burglary in the morning. When I came to the shop, I found the lock broken and ₹14,000 kept inside the cash box missing. The burglar had not taken rice or other goods from the shop,” said Sivakumar, a salesperson.

CCTV footage from the locality shows a middle-aged man walking towards the shop with a crow bar and breaking the lock around 1.05 p.m.

After a few minutes, he walks back to the shop and crawls inside. He is seen covering his face. He is then seen picking the lock of one of the drawers.

The Mylapore police have registered a case and taken fingerprints from the shops.

A senior police officer said that the burglar has been identified and he will be nabbed soon.

Need more patrolling

Residents claim that CCTV cameras have been installed on Mundakakanni Amman Koil Street.

“Around ₹500 was collected from each shop keeper and cameras were installed. However, they seem to be useless,” said one of the shopkeepers on the street. P. Chandrasekhar, president, Mylapore Traders Association, said that police should increase patrolling on smaller lanes in the locality. “Now the focus is more on the Mada streets,” he said.

₹1.4 lakh stolen

Meanwhile, an unknown person diverted the attention of a car driver and stole ₹1.4 lakh, a laptop, mobile phones and office documents kept inside the vehicle at Chromepet on Saturday night.

According to the police, Murugan, an industrialist from Alandur, and his driver Rajesh had gone to a car showroom in Chromepet. Mr. Murugan went inside the showroom and Rajesh was alone in the car.

A man approached Rajesh and asked him to park the car a little ahead.

When Rajesh went to search for parking space, the suspect broke the car window and stole the valuables and cash.

The Chromepet police have registered a case and are investigating.

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