The man rebuilt the wall’s broken section after the theft
Ahmedabad: A man broke his shop wall to enter the one next door and steal firecrackers worth Rs 11.2 lakh over time. A complaint about the theft was filed on Nov 1. About a fortnight ago, the accused, Pankaj Rana (32), allegedly slipped the firecrackers through the hole in the wall into his own shop and sealed the cavity with bricks and cement. Officers had seized close to 400 cartons of different brands of firecrackers, valued at Rs 13.23 lakh, from Shop F/A-2, according to the police complaint. Rana had allegedly rented the adjoining shop, F/A-3, about a month before the theft. On the day of the theft, he came to his shop around 8pm, broke through the common wall with a hammer and entered FA/2. Police found that cartons containing 387 boxes of firecrackers, valued at Rs 11.23 lakh, were missing. Loose and unusable firecrackers worth another Rs 2 lakh were also recovered and seized for investigation.
Dholka police had sealed the neighbouring shop; the stock of firecrackers inside had been seized in a case filed under BNS and the Explosives Act over alleged safety violations. The shops are located in Dholka’s Shriram Market. Rana, himself a Dholka resident, was arrested after information about the missing stock. The seized stock had been left inside and the shop sealed by police. To avoid suspicion, he allegedly rebuilt the broken part the next day. He later sold the stolen firecrackers. Police came to know of the theft only a fortnight later. The breakthrough came when a head constable received specific information. When Rana was questioned at the Sindhi Gate police outpost, he admitted to the theft. Police inspected the premises after informing the court about the theft of the seized property.