Thieves dump hi-tech safes as they couldn't pry them open

Two digital, safety vaults - stolen from a company in Tathawade on Sunday night - were found abandoned near a farm in Ravet yesterday, after what looks like an unfruitful attempt to open them.

Bungled robbery: Police inspect the unopened safes, which were dumped at a farm near Ravet yesterday. Pic/Navnath Kaple

Prima facie evidence suggests that the suspects had attempted to break the digital lock and metal frame of the safes, but after their attempts failed they abandoned the safes. Police later said that the vaults were holding Rs 2 lakh in cash, which remained safe.

Sandeep Bhondwe, a farmer, was the first one to notice one of the vaults abandoned in his Ganeshnagar farm at 7.30 am. The second safe was found nearby, at Mangaldham society in Ramabainagar.

"Sandeep had gone to the farm when he saw the safe. He contacted Dehuroad police station. A photocopy of a cheque and few other documents were found lying besides the safe.

From the documents, we got to know that the safe belongs to a company in Tathawade," said Sandeep's cousin Nitin. "After police arrived, they called up the company officials who confirmed that the safe was stolen from their premises.

Ram Jadhav, inspector of Dehuroad police station, said, "The suspects had tried to break the digital lock, as well as the metal frame of the safes. When they failed in their attempt, they abandoned the safes.

Since the theft has been committed in Tathawade, we have transferred the case to Hinjewadi police under whose jurisdiction the company falls."

S V Kendre, police sub-inspector, said, "The firm distributes cold drinks in Pimpri-Chinchwad area. The company's administration chief Santosh Shillarkar had registered a complaint with us last afternoon.

In his complaint, he stated that the safe was missing and may have been stolen between 9 pm on Sunday and 7 am on Monday.

The vaults were kept in the company office, but since there are no CCTV cameras installed there, we don't have details on the movements of the suspects."u00a0