Rats ‘steal’ jewellery worth Rs 10 lakh at Tumakuru jewellery store

TUMAKURU: A major ‘theft’ at a jewellery store in Tumakuru city left the owners and staff shocked, as rats had taken away a whopping Rs 10 lakh worth of gold jewellery and hid them in a burrow.

The shop’s shutter was not broken, there was no breakin, and the staff had not done anything suspicious. Yet, the gold had disappeared. The ‘theft’ at Vishwas Jewellery Shop on Call Tax Road in Tumakuru city had left all jewellery store owners stunned.

At night, the jewellery pieces were counted, the doors were locked and everyone left. The next morning, when they came and counted again, a whopping 10 rings and two chains were missing. The staff immediately called owner Vishwas and informed him about the shortage and he told them to count again.

Even after counting three times, the same shortage showed up. This left the staff terrified and were afraid they would definitely be blamed. But what worked in favour of the staff was the CCTV. When they checked the footage, what they found was the mischief of a colony of rats. Even owner Vishwas and the staff were shocked to see the rats’ big scam.

In just one night, a pack of rats stole 10 rings and two chains. The rats had scratched the scented thread tags that are put on rings and chains. To eat that tag, the rats took the entire ring and chain into their burrow. About 3-4 rats together carried out this act. The fact that only the threads in some ring trays were cut, and only some threads were missing, led to suspicion about the rats.

Following the CCTV trail, they found that the mice had made a burrow in the wooden shelf of the showcase. Noticing this, the owner called a carpenter and had the burrow searched. Then, all the stolen goods were recovered. But the rats had eaten the jewellery tags.

After the stolen goods were found, the jewellery shop staff were relieved. The CCTV cleared the jewellery shop staff of all accusations. Thus, the ‘theft’ case ended with a thrilling and happy ending.