VASCO
Barely a day after an alert poojari foiled a burglary attempt at a temple in Canacona, a neighbour thwarted a bid by four thieves to break open a bungalow at Alto-Dabolim in broad daylight on Wednesday afternoon.
A 29-year-old native of UP was arrested after a dramatic chase by locals, while three others are absconding.
According to an eyewitness, four neatly dressed men tried to break open the rear door of the bungalow belonging to Augusto Pereira at about 2.30 pm. However, Pereira’s neighbour heard some noises and when he saw the burglars trying to break the door, he alerted others.
“When the burglars saw the neighbour rushing towards them, three burglars fled from the spot in two scooters parked behind the bungalow. The fourth burglar, armed with a knife and a screw driver, was not so lucky. He was caught after a hot chase,” informed the eye witness.
But before he was caught, the burglar had managed to get a lift from a motorcycle-borne man. “When the crowd raised an alarm that the pillion rider was a burglar, the the motorcyclist left him and sped away,” said the
eye witness.
The burglar did not give up and boarded a moving bus and climbed atop. However, the crowd stopped the bus and asked the burglar to come down. The burglar, however, threatened to commit suicide by catching an electricity cable above the bus.
As the burglar was not ready to come down, the angry mob threatened to stone him. Fearing that the angry crowd would stone him, the burglar finally came down. He was given a sound thrashing before being handed over to the Vasco police. His mobile phone was also confiscated and given to the police.
When contacted, Vasco PI Sagar Ekoskar said, “During the interrogation, the accused identified himself as Sagar Gupta of Uttar Pradesh. Gupta, who is 29 years old, along with his friends had come down to Goa and were staying in a hotel at Margao.”
PSI Rohan Magdaokar is investigating the case.
