Attempt to break into a bungalow
Vasco: Three armed thieves fired at Vasco police personnel while escaping on a motorcycle after a failed robbery in a bungalow near the MES College at Zuarinagar on Monday.
Two gunshots were fired by the thieves. A police constable has been injured in the firing incident, while a police sub-inspector was lucky to have a narrow escape.
The incident occurred in the early hours of Monday. As the family lives in the United Kingdom, the bungalow was vacant.
According to Deputy Superintendent of Police, Mormugao, Salim Shaikh, “The Vasco police received information around 2 a.m. that thieves had entered a bungalow near the MES College at Zuarinagar. The alert neighbours informed the police. Duty officer police sub-inspector (PSI) Swapnil Naik immediately rushed towards the bungalow along with head constable Yashwant Desai and constable Prahlad Naik. Meanwhile, PSI Naik realised that the bungalow came under the jurisdiction of Verna police and informed them accordingly.”
When PSI Naik reached the spot, he decided to enter the compound of the bungalow and catch the thieves red-handed.
However, out of the three thieves, one was keeping a watch on the gate and alerted his accomplices about the police’s presence.
Two thieves made their way out from the compound of the bungalow and started calling out to their third partner in crime, who was stuck inside. Meanwhile, they fired a bullet at PSI Naik, who tried to stop them. Naik had a narrow escape, police said.
The thieves fired a second bullet at constable Prahlad Naik. The bullet hit the floor and injured the constable’s leg as it rebounded. The thieves managed to flee on their motorcycle. However, PSI Naik clicked pictures of the thieves as they escaped on the two-wheeler, police said.
The Verna police was immediately contacted and asked to carry out a nakabandi at Cortalim and Sancoale.
The Vasco police have recovered the motorcycle used in the crime. They said the two-wheeler was a stolen vehicle. Some weapons used by the thieves to break open the main door of the bungalow were also seized by the police.
The bungalow belongs to one Amonkar family, which lives in the United Kingdom. According to the family members, three years back, another theft had taken place in the bungalow wherein the thieves had cut the grills of a window and had broken open cupboards in bedroom.
Stating that further investigation into the case is being carried out, DySP Shaikh urged people staying abroad to install CCTV cameras in their houses to monitor such activities and avoid thefts.
According to the Vasco police, the thieves could also be involved in other robberies that have recently taken place in Mormugao taluka.
On Sunday, three men riding a motorcycle were involved in a chain-snatching incident at St. Jacinto Island. A theft was also reported at a bungalow in Loutolim whereas on Monday three motorcycle-borne persons were involved in snatching of gold bangles of an elderly woman in Loutolim. The CCTV footage of the bangle-snatching incident has gone viral on social media.