Mysuru: Burglars had a field day during Gowri-Ganesha festival that was celebrated in city yesterday and the day before. They broke into three shops on Sayyaji Rao Road on the night of Sept. 12 and decamped with cash, clothes and other materials.

Interestingly, they also took away the hard disks of computers in which CCTV footages were recorded and stored. The burglaries took place at Anand Brothers, Shariff Appliances and Maruthi Textiles. Burglars gained entry into the shops through the terrace and they broke open the shutters of the shops.

Burglars made away with Rs. 68,000 cash and other materials from Anand Brothers, Rs. 70,000 cash and home appliances from Shariff Appliances and Rs. 80,000 cash and readymade garments from Maruthi Textiles. The total value of cash looted is 2.18 lakh. The worth of materials looted is yet to be ascertained.

Realising the presence of CCTV cameras that were recording their crime, burglars took away the hard disks that stored the visuals.

Devaraja Inspector Thimmaraju and staff conducted spot inspection and summoned fingerprint experts and dog squad to the burgled shops. Devaraja Sub-Division ACP Gajendra Prasad, City Fingerprint Unit ACP Rajashekar, SI Appaji Gowda and others visited the spot.

It may be recalled here that burglars looted houses during Gowri-Ganesha festivals last year too. Taking advantage of locked houses, they had decamped with cash and jewellery worth lakhs of rupees from five houses in Vijayanagar and Dattagalli.