Over 500 patolas worth Rs 47 lakh stolen from shop in Rajkot

RAJKOT: Over 500 patolas, a unique and expensive weave, worth Rs 47 lakh were stolen from a shop of a wholesale trader in Sarveshwar Chowk on Yagnik Road in the city.
The shop owner Vijay Vadher told police that five parcels of patolas were delivered at his shop through courier on Saturday. The parcels were kept in the shop which was then closed on Sunday and Monday.
On Tuesday morning, Vadher’s father Jivraj went to the shop and saw the shutters broken.On checking inside, he noticed that five parcels that contained costly patolas were missing while those containing relatively inexpensive ones were intact.
The shop mostly remained closed and Vadher used to get patolas made in Surendranagar and sell them at various exhibitions throughout the country.
A worker at a restaurant adjacent to the shop had seen three people breaking in but out of fear, he did not raise an alarm. Later, he told police that the burglars picked up the parcels and left in a van.
Sources said each piece of the stolen patola costs at least Rs 50,000. Suspecting an insider’s job, the A-division police called the shop’s caretaker for questioning and are scanning the CCTV footage to get more clues.