A burglar managed to loot jewellery weighing 3 kilos from a store in Bengaluru by drilling a hole all the way from his room to the store. He stayed in a lodge situated right on top of the jewellery store, located on Cottonpet Main Road.
According to reports, the accused rented room number 102, which is right on top of Kanchan Jewellery store on June 19 and has been staying there since. After looting the store on Saturday, he vacated the room the same evening.
The incident came to light, when the store's owner Himmat Prakash opened the shop on Sunday morning. After spending the morning at the store on Saturday, Himmat had shut shop a little after 11 am.
Modus Operandi
The thief, who went by the name of Muhammad Hussain, took a room at Platinum Lodge on June 19. Police say that he used fake ID to secure the room. He reportedly made several visits to the jewellery store downstairs, in the pretext of buying gold.
Following this, using a drilling machine, Hussain drilled a 1.5X1.5 feet hole within a span of some ten days. On Saturday morning, after Himmat had shut the store, Hussain climbed down the hole from his room, ransacked the place and climbed back up without raising suspicion. Soon after, he vacated the room, claiming that he was returning to his hometown in Kalaburagi.
Although people staying in the other rooms complained to the owner of the lodge about noise at night, the staff reportedly said that it was due to construction work happening in the neighbourhood.
The police are also investigating whether the thief got inside help from the lodge to carry out the crime. A police officer part of the investigation told The Times of India that Hussain used to conceal the hole in his room using a doormat, when the lodge staff would come to clean the room every two days.