Salt lake burglary leaves residents shocked as burglars flee with cash and valuables

Kolkata: A daring burglary took place at a Salt Lake address in the early hours of Thursday when a group of men broke open the lock of a ground floor office of a two-storeyed home and stole cash and other items worth close to 50 lakhs. The house belongs to an NRI elderly woman who rented out the ground floor to a private firm that runs a dealership of eggs from the building.
Following the burglary, while the burglars were fleeing on two motorbikes without number plates, a police patrol team spotted and chased them. However, they flashed a firearm and fled through alleys and lanes as the cops failed to nab them after a hot chase. The incident occurred around 2 am at GC 184 in Salt Lake, where the burglars broke open the locks at the separate exit for the office and entered the place. They also used an inside staircase to head upstairs and reach the first floor where the houseowners stay when they come to India.

"Around 2 am, a car alarm of a vehicle parked outside our building started blaring, waking us up from sleep. After some time, a resident of our adjacent building alerted us that the iron grill door of the ground floor office was open and the lock was lying on the floor when we realised that a break-in had happened," said Putul Halder, the building caretaker.
A senior officer of Bidhannagar city police said CCTV footage showed that one of the burglars touched a car parked outside, causing the alarm to go off when they fled the spot in a hurry. "While they were speeding along the Salt Lake road, one of our patrol teams spotted them. There were five men on two scooters, none of which had a registration number plate. That alerted us, and the team began a chase," said the officer.
The officer said that when they reached near the canal side road, one of the miscreants pointed at them something that looked like a fire alarm, prompting the cops to slow down as the miscreants sped and fled the area. "We are tracking the CCTV cameras and are on their trail. They will be arrested soon," said the officer.
Dipankar Majumdar, one of the proprietors of the firm whose office was looted, said they had a large amount of cash there that went missing. Cops said given the fact that the miscreants knew it was an empty house and that there was a large stash of cash kept at the office, they are not even ruling out an insider job. "We are not ruling out any angles," said the officer.
The incident, however, left the local residents in a state of shock. "It's a peaceful residential neighbourhood, but such a burglary has left us shaken. I heard some noises from the house early on Thursday but didn't realise there were burglars looting the home," said Payel Paul, who lives in the building next to where the burglars broke in.
Anindya Lahiri, a lawyer and a resident of another house opposite the woman's home, said this was the second time there was a theft at the house. "There was an earlier instance of theft in this house. Also, I have learnt there was another theft in a house on our lane this month. The cops should intensify patrolling here," said Lahiri. MSID:: 120588792 413 |