Burglars decamp with silver from jewellery store

HYDERABAD: Unidentified persons forced their way into a jewellery store at Gundlapochampally on outskirts of the city in the wee hours of Monday and decamped with more than two-and-half tola silver.The incident took place at Deepak Jewellers located in Gundlapochampally under the Pet Basheerabad police limits around 3 a.m on Monday.Though a worker was present inside, he did not wake up to sounds of the offenders breaking the shutters, police said.According to Pet Basheerabad police inspector S Ashok Kumar, the offenders initially tried to open the shutter by lifting it.As there was a central lock installed, they could not succeed in lifting the shutter.“The offenders broke the wall on one side of the shutter and then bent the shutter to make their way into the store,’’ Ashok Kumar said.Police suspect they used small-sized crowbars to bend the shutter.One employee of the store, Sukhram was sleeping in a room adjacent to the store.“Sukhram woke up when the burglars were gathering silver articles and came out and raised an alarm.The offenders picked up all they could gather from the showcases and fled.They did not attack Sukhram and did not carry any weapons,’’ Ashok Kumar said.After coming out, they hurled a boulder on Sukhram but the latter escaped unhurt.Police suspect the role of a professional shutter lifting gang behind the burglary.No security guard was posted and the management had not installed CCTVs inside, police said.Based on a complaint by the store owner, Bheem Lal, police registered a case of burglary and are investigating.