Provision store owner robbed of paan masala worth Rs 4,625 in Vadodara

TNN | Updated: Apr 15, 2020, 11:37 IST

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VADODARA: Desperation for chewing paan masala and tobacco during lockdown has led to robbery of paan masala worth Rs4,625 in Dabhoi in Vadodara district on Monday.
A provision store owner Mahesh Bariya, who had bought paan masala stock before lockdown, was carrying packets from his friend’s house to his shop when two robbers identified as Kuldeep Sharma and Ayub Tai on a motorcycle robbed him of them and a gold ring worth Rs17,000.
According to Bariya, he had kept the paan masala at his friend Jamil Maqbul’s house before the lockdown. On Monday afternoon, he was bringing the stock to his shop when Sharma and Tai met him near railway crossing near Timbi village and asked him where he was going. When Bariya told him that he was going to his shop, the duo snatched the bag containing the packets of paan masala and forcibly took his ring and fled away. Bariya runs his shop from his home only.
Based on their bike’s registration number, their identity was revealed and they were nabbed from their homes in Dabhoi town on Tuesday. Police said they have not been formally arrested but have been sent to SSG Hospital in Vadodara for their check-up and will be kept under quarantine until their reports arrive.
“They are yet to be interrogated, but during preliminary questioning they said that they had the habit of chewing paan masala and were out of stock,” said a police official.