A sniffer dog aids investigations at the jewellery shop in Sakchi on Sunday. (Bhola Prasad)

Gold and silver ornaments worth over Rs 7 lakh and Rs 85,000 in cash were stolen from a jewellery shop at Sakchi market in the wee hours of Sunday.

Police suspect a child was involved as the hole that was drilled on the asbestos roof to gain entry into the shop, Gaya Jewellers located on Dalda Line, was too small for adults to pass through.

A case of burglary has been filed against unknown persons on the basis of an FIR lodged by shop owner Naresh Prasad Burman, who claimed that 5kg silver ornaments and gold jewellery that had come for repairing were missing.

According to the FIR, Naresh had shut the shop around 10.15pm on Saturday before leaving for his Mango home. On Sunday, his son Amit opened the shop at 10am to find articles, including some boxes containing the ornaments, lying on the floor. A shocked Amit checked the shop to find a portion of the ceiling on the rear portion broken. He soon informed his father and relatives. Naresh rushed to the shop and called up police, who sent a team immediately. Police also pressed a sniffer dog into action, but it could not offer any clue.

“This is because as the shop was recently painted, the strong smell confused the dog. However, footprints on the wall clearly suggest that a child was made to enter the shop after dismantling a portion of the roof,” said officer in charge of Sakchi police station inspector Bijay Kumar.

He added that the culprits must have conducted a proper survey of the shop before committing the crime.

Naresh said that they had always thought that the vicinity was safe as a watchman kept an eye on the rows of shops on Dalda Line. “Besides, there was another watchman on duty for a garment store in the neighbourhood. A family also stays behind my shop, but none of them appears to have heard any noise during the break-in,” said the shop owner.

He added that his son had shifted most of the new gold ornaments to a special chamber built recently and therefore, the bulk of jewellery was safe.

Other shop keepers at the marketplace are a worried lot now. “If criminals can commit burglary at a shop in a well-guarded marketplace, then they can strike again. We will have to pull up our socks,” said Ashok Prasad, vice-president of Jamshedpur Jewellers’ Association.