SURAT, Feb 21: Cash, goods and valuables worth Rs 9.10 lakhs were reported stolen in three separate cases of housebreaking and burglary registered in police stations of the city during the past 24 hours.In the first theft registered in the Katargam police station on Sunday, a Rolex watch worth Rs 5 lakhs along with a diamond-studded golden waist belt worth Rs 2 lakhs were reported stolen from the house of one Vasant Hira Gajera, brother of city MLA Dhiru Gajera, at Rishab Society in Katargam. According to the complainant, the wrist watch as well as the waist belt were stolen from a cupboard in the bedroom. Gajera has named three maidservants working in his house, Saviben, Bhartiben and Yogitaben, as suspects.PSI M K Patel of the police station, who is investigating the case, said while all the three were interrogated they had denied their involvement. They are currently lodged in the police station, he added.In the second case of housebreaking and theft registered in the Umra police station late on Saturday night, Punerkruti Suryaprakash Rao, owner of Bungalow No 8 of Mathurnagar near the Old Umra Octroi post, said that cash of Rs 7000 along with gold and silver ornaments worth Rs 93,000 were stolen from his locked house by unidentified miscreants.While no arrests have been made, Umra PSI R M Patil is investigating the case.In the third case of housebreaking registered in the Mahidharpura Police Station, one Kamal Modi's house on the first floor of the New Building, beside Delhi Gate, was burgled. He has in the complaint stated that unidentified persons opened the lock of his door with a duplicate key and decamped with cash and ornaments worth Rs 1.10 lakhs. Mahidharpura PI M T Rana is investigating.The district police also registered a case of theft on Sunday. Gopichand Padvi, a resident of Piplaas village in Nizar, in a complaint said some unidentified persons broke into his shop-cum-house and decamped with cash, audio cassettes and other belongings worth Rs 12,000.Cases under sections 454 and 380 of the IPC have been registered in the respective police stations.
