Bengaluru: In a filmy style heist, a lodger who stayed for 20 days in a room, drilled a hole into a jewellery shop right beneath the room and escaped with gold and silver valuables worth several lakhs. The incident was reported in Cottonpet police limits on Sunday.

The burglary took place at Kanchan Jewellers on Cottonpet Main Road. The incident came to light when its owner Himmat Prakash opened the shop on Sunday morning.

The police said the shop is located in the ground floor of a two storey building and Platinum Lodge is on the first floor. The burglar had rented a room right above the jewellery store and was staying there for the last 20 days. The thief used drilling tools to bore through the concrete floor of his room that is about 1.5ft thick. He made a hole of about 1.5 ft wide to gain entry into the jewellery store.

“He entered the jewellery shop, broke open the locker and stole gold and silver valuables before escaping. Preliminary probe revealed that he used a fake voter ID card while booking the room. He has planned the heist and committed the burglary on Friday night. The incident came to light only on Sunday morning as the shop was closed on Saturday. We are verifying the CCTV footage to establish his identity and gathering information from the lodge staff about his movements and behaviour in 20 days of his stay,” the police said.

Further, the police said that though other lodgers complained of drilling sound for the last 10 days, the lodge management did not care to check it. “The shop owner told us that over 2 kg of gold and several kg of silver articles are stolen. But the exact worth of the valuables stolen will be known only after he checks the stock,” the police said.

A case is registered in Cottonpet police station in this connection.