Rs.2 mn stolen from police complex in Maharashtra town

RAIGAD - In a shock to Officials Monday, nearly Rs.20 lakh (Rs.2 million) in cash were discovered to have been stolen from a government treasury, located inside a police complex, in Pen, a town some 100 km south of Mumbai.

The theft came to light Monday morning when the Regional Transport Office (RTO) in the town opened after a three-day Diwali weekend.

“According to our preliminary investigations, at least two persons came down a hill behind the treasury complex, and climbed onto the roof of the single-storey structure,” said I.S. Patil, the police station chief.

The thieves removed the detachable tiles from the roof to gain entry to the building, he added.

The investigators were confounded by the fact that only the cash kept in the RTO box was stolen, even though the office had many sealed boxes full of cash from other departments.

The money, collected by various departments, is kept in the treasury under armed security.

Patil admitted that only the main entrance had round-the-clock security, and the rear side of the building remained unmanned.

Security for the entire complex will now be reviewed, he added. No arrests have been made yet.