Vasai heist: No leads after 100 hours as no CCTV footage is available

Investigation into the Rs 80 lakh heist at gunpoint at a jewellery store in Vasai has come to a standstill as the absence of CCTV cameras in the VasaiVirar area has hindered the policersquos efforts to gather crucial evidence Itrsquos been more than 100 hours but the armed robbers who had covered their faces under helmets face masks and hoodies are still at large The duo decamped with the valuables on their getaway motorcycle whose number plates are not legible The accused were last seen near a park in Sun City VasaiRobbers using the same route before and after the heist in Vasai on Friday nightThough a few CCTV cameras helped the investigating team to trace the route that the robbers took but probe was halted because a CCTV camera installed at a civicoperated park in Sun City Vasai is lying dysfunctionalldquoAfter committing the theft both the robbers took the same route they took to reach the jewellery shop Since it was late at night the headlamps blurred the footage and the number plates of the motorcycles are not legiblerdquo said a police officerldquoIt seems that the robbers had studied the escape route properly before committing the offence They reached the Sun City area but they became untraceable beyond a point where VVCMCoperated CCTV cameras are not workingrdquo said a police officer privy to the investigation Another senior officer at Mira Bhayandar Vasai Virar MBVV police told midday that on the pretext of beautification work the civic officials removed multiple electric poles where CCTV cameras were installedOne of the robbers captured on CCTVldquoThese electric poles were removed only to install fountains at multiple circles in Vasai Virar Nalasopara and Naigaon areasrdquo said a senior police officer requesting anonymity ldquoOur detection officers have been facing a lot of difficulties because the surveillance equipment has been carelessly removed Many inspectors have written to the VasaiVirar City Municipal Corporation VVCMC officials to reinstall the CCTV cameras which they removed in the name of beautification work But our requests are falling on deaf ears of babusrdquo said the officerBefore the formation of the MBVV police commissionerate the then Additional Superintendent of Palghar Police Vijaykanth Sagar had requested citizens housing societies and businessmen to install at least one CCTV camera to survey the cityHundreds of CCTV cameras were installed said a senior police officer adding ldquoThe control rooms for these private CCTV cameras were kept either in housing societies businessmenrsquos offices dhabas hotels etc and the expenses were contributed by local people or businessmenrdquoInstallation at Fire Brigade Evershine that resulted in the removal of CCTV camerasldquoMany people had contributed and multiple CCTV cameras were installed at all the major points chowks important stretches market place streets around housing societies and other prominent places But the beautification work of VVCMC dismantled everything and more than 500 CCTV cameras were removedrdquo said another senior police officerFriday incidentA 68yearold Ratanlal Singhvi was shutting down his jewellery shop on Friday night when two armed men entered the shop and aimed a pistol at him ldquoMy father resisted and tried to shout for help but one of them assaulted him using the butt of the pistol on his head He was pushed inside the safe where all the jewellery was kept One of the robbers had cornered my father and his accomplice was putting jewellery in a sackrdquo said Abhilesh Singhvi the son of the elderly manInitially we thought that we had lost Rs 40 lakh jewellery but the final calculation was astonishingly higherrdquo Singhvi said ldquoMy father who was administered nine stitches to his head is still in deep shock following the incidentrdquo he addedldquoIt has been more than four days and the cops are yet to solve the case We donrsquot know who these robbers arerdquo said SinghvildquoThe safety and security of citizens are very important and CCTV plays a vital role The responsible citizens and businessmen helped the police install the CCTV cameras in the VasaiVirar area But the cops are yet to solve the caserdquo he added The queries related to reinstallation of CCTV cameras were sent to VVCMC commissioner Anil Kumar Pawar and the calls made to him went unanswered by the press time