Thieves robbed several reference books and nearly 35 chairs from the Mazgaon court library in 9 months, after the court building was deemed dilapidated in June 2013; courtrooms shifted to Sewri court
A case of housebreaking being registered at a police station is a nondescript affair, but what if the place the thieves struck at is a court?
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It took nine months for authorities to realise that books (worth Rs35,000) and furniture (worth Rs7,500) — a total worth of R42,500 — had been stolen from the library of the Mazgaon court.
Courting thieves: Cops suspect the break-in to be the handiwork of drug addicts. File Pic
The incident came to light after a few lawyers visited the library, located on the first floor of the court building, to check a few books for reference work.
The five-storey Mazgaon Court has has been lying vacant ever since it was declared to be a dilapidated structure in June last year.
Following this notice, all the courtrooms in the building were shifted to the Sewri Court premises. However, due to lack of space there, the authorities were unable to shift the library.
An official from the Byculla police station said, “Since the library wasn’t given a proper space at the Sewri court, it was locked with all the books and furniture inside. The theft took place between June 18, 2013 and March 26, 2014. It was officials from the bar association who discovered the missing books and a few pieces of furniture.”
After the burglary came to light, members of the bar association held a meeting and decided to file a police complaint.
The case was registered on April 5, wherein they stated that books worth R35,000 and 30 to 35 chairs worth R7,500 were missing from the library.
“Though we feel it to be the handiwork of druggies, who stole the articles so that they could buy their drugs, we are doing our best to nab the culprits. The case is difficult to solve because we don’t even know the exact date
of the break-in and whether it was a onetime break-in or multiple thefts,” the official added.
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