Lockdown-induced theft: 80kg butter, 20kg cheese

Footpath dwellers may have been raiding Cannon pav-bhaji outlet over a period

The city police have arrested two persons for allegedly stealing 80 kg of butter, 20 kg of cheese and utensils from Cannon Pav Bhaji, a popular eatery opposite the BMC headquarters. While Azad Maidan Police have managed to recover some utensils, the dair y products have disappeared without a trace. The accused duo claimed to have used up that part of the loot.

The incident came to light on July 25 when someone called the owner, PN Dandekar, to inform him that the backdoor of the eatery was open. The owner sent two staffers who lived nearby, to check.

They discovered that the shop had been broken into. A quick stock-taking showed that along with 80kg butter and 20kg cheese, pots and pans and other equipment worth Rs 1 lakh had also been stolen from the shop. On Dandekar's complaint, an offence under the IPC sections of house-breaking (454), theft at night (457) and theft (380) was registered. Following the lodging of FIR, a police team arrested two pavement dwellers, Santosh Thapa, 20, and Karan Jadhav, 25, for theft and recovered some of the stolen utensils from them; one more accused is still at large. The accused have claimed they had nothing to eat during the lockdown and were forced to steal, said a police officer. "The shop has been shut since March 23 and it is likely that they had been stealing from it over a period. We have seized some utensils from them," said senior inspector Vidyasagar Kalkundre of Azad Maidan police station.