Unidentified thieves decamped with Rs 40,000 after breaking into three shops in Sakchi and emptied out the donation box at the Pir Baba Mazaar in Kitadih, Bagbera, these four incidents occurring on Saturday night.

In Sakchi, the thieves entered three kiosks, but found cash in only one. Abhishek Prasad, who runs a confectionery-cum-packaged milk shop near Ramlila Maidan in Sakchi, said he found the lock of his shop broken and Rs 40,000 missing from his cash box when he turned up at his shop around 9am on Sunday.

“I had locked my shop properly on Saturday. Moreover, I had never bothered about a theft at my shop because it is located in crowded area. But that didin’t deter the thieves from taking away my earnings by breaking open the lock,” Prasad told this correspondent. Prasad, who is a resident of Kasidih, said he was confident about the security of his shop because of regular night patrolling in the area, but he was under the wrong impression.

“I have lodged an FIR with Sakchi police station, but don’t expect any breakthrough in this case,” he said.The thieves also broke the locks of two kiosks near Prasad’s shop, but did not find any cash in them.Officer in-charge of Sakchi police station, Rajeev Singh, confirmed he had received an FIR on a theft in a shop near Ramlila Maidan.“A theft has been reported from a shop near Ramlila Maidan area. We are probing into the case,” Singh said.

In a separate incident, unidentified men broke open the donation box at the Pir Baba Mazaar and stole its contents.The management of the mazaar has informed police about the theft.Officer in-charge of Bagbera police station, Madan Sharma, said they were aware of the theft at the mazaar, but were yet to get a formal FIR.“We can proceed with an investigation only after getting an FIR in connection to the theft,” Sharma said.A police source said the incidents of theft and burglary tended to spurt before Diwali.

“Cops are planning to intensify night patrolling to curb such incidents,” he said.