Taking advantage of the night curfew and cold, the thieves struck late at night in a five-storey Sagar Residency cum Plaza complex on Bajwa-Koyli Road near Vadodara. The complex has a showroom of Rajwada readymade garments with 7 shops, a showroom of readymade garments called Fashion Point with 5 shops, project hardware, Gurukrupa Pan Corner, and shops selling various items including electronics, and others. The accused targeted the complex's shops at 1 am and in an hour broke into 17 shops located in the complex. They decamped with cash as well as goods from the shops and also cigarettes worth Rs 1 lakh stolen from Gurukrupa Pan Corner. Owners who came to open the shops in the morning were shocked to learn about the theft at the complex. A crowd gathered as word spread. When the incident was reported to Jawahar Nagar police, Police Jawan Pravinbhai rushed to the spot. In the preliminary investigation by the police, the CCTV footage showed the thieves were wearing monkey caps and ha

Author-Shlok Talati