You are here: Home > News >

The Shahs from Padma Bhuvan keep the baseball bat ready in case a robber comes calling

Between Aug 19 and Aug 27, robbers broke into two houses, five shops and twice into Ramdevtir temple in Chembur Camp area. The robbers have stolen cash and goods worth more than Rs 2 lakh in the last 10 days, apart from Ramdevtirs temples bell.

The robberies have outraged residents and shopkeepers, who say that thieves have been targetting them for a long time but the cops dismiss their cases as petty thefts.

This is not the first time that my shop has been robbed. But because I never lose a huge sum my complaints are not taken seriously, says Vallabh Shah, a shopkeeper from Chembur Naka, who lost Rs 6,000 to robbers on Aug 27.

However, this time around cops say they have stepped up security after the chain of robberies. We have tightened security in the area, especially in the night. We have stationed patrol teams at many locations and are trying our best to catch the thieves. I am sure we will, says senior inspector of Chembur police station Arun Waghmare.

The Mungekar family from Chhaya Society lost around Rs 1.5 lakh in the robbery on Aug 19. The family was in Pune to celebrate Raksha Bandhan when the thieves broke in.

Upset with the turn of events the family refused to speak to the press. "I am busy doing the rounds of the police station. I don't want to comment on the issue," says Subhash Mungekar.

But Becharbhai Patel, a resident of Padma Bhuvan, also from Chhaya Society, who averted a robbery, is more forthcoming with his story. Patel had confronted three burglars on Aug 25. The robbers assaulted the senior citizen before fleeing.

Three burglars tried to enter the empty and locked ground floor house of Bipin Lakhani. The robbers fled because I raised an alarm, says a proud Patel, who is now recuperating at home.

Explaining the sequence of events, Becharbhai Patel says, At 4.10 am, I heard people scurrying away on the ground floor. I thought my sons family, who lives on the ground floor, is in trouble. So I went downstairs. There were no lights in the corridor so I asked who was making the noise. But before I could react I was dragged out of the building and assaulted.

Patel had to be admitted to Joy hospital while the robbers escaped by jumping across the boundary wall next to the Golf Club.

Patel was hit on his face with a plumbers lever, which was probably also used to open Lakhani's locked door. He has sustained stitches on his eyebrow and forehead," says Harshad Shah, Patel's neighbour.