They dreamt of breaking into a jewellery store and striking it rich, but after spending nearly a month digging through a sewer, two crooks found themselves in knee-deep in trouble (and sewage) instead. After braving the stench and putting in backbreaking work for 25 days, the would-be robbers realised they had miscalculated the length of the tunnel when they emerged one foot away from the shop. Worse, a local resident had spotted them digging and the cops were onto them the very next day.

Workers plug the hole made by the robbers, but it’s clear that digging one foot more would have made all the difference. Pics/Nimesh Dave