Another House Burgled, One Attempt Thwarted

Thefts in Udvada seem to be on the rise. Within this week itself, while a house was once again burglarized, another robbery attempt was thwarted just in time.

Close on the heels of the break-in that took place just last month, on 4th October, 2019, at the Bharda family’s residence in Udvada, yet another house was burgled on 13th November, 2019. The domestic help, who checks in weekly on ‘Farsak’ Cottage – owned by Faramroze Munchershaw Bhadha, located on Bhadha Street in Udvada village – was alarmed to see that the backdoor of the house had been broken open and the house had been completely ransacked and robbed. She notified Rohinton Irani, owner of Udvada’s popular ‘Irani Bakery’, located right opposite the robbed house, who immediately called Shahin Irani, Manager of Udvada’s N M Wadia Parsi Dharamshala, to also assist and call the Pardi Police Station.

PSI Shakti Sinh Jhala, who has just been transferred to Pardi Police Station, has taken charge of the case. Upon investigation, it was observed that the robbers had broken in through the roof of the house. The thieves ransacked the whole house, and as per PT’s Udvada Correspondent, left it looking like it was hit by a hurricane!

On 15^th November, just a couple of days after the above larceny, yet another burglary was attempted in Udvada – on Silloo Nariman’s house in the same Bhadha Street, opposite Irani bakery. However, it was thwarted with timely intervention and alertness of the home guards present close to the premises. Unfortunately, the thieves escaped.

Iranshah’s Vada Dastoorji, Khurshed Dastoor was also informed of these incidents and he immediately took up the issue again, and has put in a strong recommendation that the Police Department deploy a special team of police to patrol every night at various points in Udvada, and ensure that the culprits are apprehended and strict action is taken against them.

Udvada village houses over 150 to 200 migrant laborers who cross the state border into Gujarat from neighboring states of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh, looking for construction work. These laborers aren’t Police-verified and, over the past few years have spread across Udvada and are increasing in number. It is said that some of these migrant laborers work as spies for looting gangs in nearby states, informing them of Parsi houses which remain vacant and become the ideal target to plunder for cash or jewelry.

Last month, Rohinton Irani’s in-law’s family house in Udvada, owned by the Bharda family, was broken into and robbed of gold ornaments, cash (Rs. 1.5 lakhs) and other valuables. The Bhadha premise was similarly ransacked. Though this current robbery took place very close to the Irani Bakery which is fitted CCTV cameras, not much could be made out of the footage as the thieves broke in through the roof.

Speaking to Parsi Times, Rohinton Irani said, “The need of the hour is for the police to send in better trained and equipped personnel who will be able to better control the situation which is clearly getting out of hand. We need better equipment in terms of LED lights on the street as also CCTV cameras fixed at more spots around Udvada, which should be functional at any and all given points of time in order to serve and ensure security in the village. I think there should be an anonymous body appointed to oversee the daily issues to be on top of these robberies. I don’t want our Udvada to get the reputation of being the ‘city of robberies’!”

“Helping is my passion and to be true I go out of my way for everyone, irrespective of caste or creed. I love to serve. I find myself much closer to God in serving mankind and pets in distress,” said Shahin Irani to PT.

Kudos to Rohinton Jal Irani and Shahin Irani for always being at the forefront in helping out the community members and being vigilant about these Udvada robberies and alerting and assisting with timely police action.

Udvada residents have been a victim of over ten robberies in the recent past. PSI Jhala has reassured that he would employ his resources to get to the bottom of these robberies taking place in Gujarat.