Police commissioner Gautam Mohan Chakrabarti at Eden Gardens on Sunday evening. Picture by Santosh Ghosh

A petty theft at Eden Gardens left the authorities red-faced 48 hours before the Kolkata Knight Riders’ match against the Mumbai Indians.

“Copper wires connected to the generator sets and telephone cables were stolen from ‘C’ Block on Saturday night. A case has been registered,” police commissioner Gautam Mohan Chakrabarti said.

An official of the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) said the stolen items — 32 kg of copper wires and telephone cables — were worth around Rs 20,000.

Technicians of Shree Electronics, a city-based company responsible for illumination of the galleries, noticed that the wires were missing and informed the CAB authorities on Sunday morning.

“There were CAB-employed guards and even some policemen in the stadium last night, but they had no clue about the theft. We are beefing up security,” Chakrabarti said.

The commissioner and a battery of senior police officers and representatives of the CESC, PWD and Philips visited Eden on Sunday evening to inspect the arrangements for the showdown between the Knight Riders and the Mumbai Indians. The CAB president, Prasun Mukherjee, was conspicuous by his absence.

The last IPL match at Eden was marred by a partial blackout.

“All the recommendations of the review committee are being implemented and we are satisfied with the progress,” the commissioner said.

The recommendations include dedicated feeder lines for the floodlight towers, air- conditioning in the control rooms and proper arrangements for drinking water. “Work on the electronic scoreboard is on and we will inspect it tomorrow,” Chakrabarti said.