In a perfectly scripted heist, burglars walked into a Shoppers Stop department store at the glitzy Shipra Mall here and decamped with diamond jewellery worth nearly Rs.1 crore (Rs.10 million). Police suspect an insider job as the robbers knew the layout and had avoided the security cameras.

According to police, the burglars sneaked into the store when it had closed, took out the keys from the place where they were kept, opened the glass cases of the jewellery counters and took away jewellery. The assailants fled from the back door of the store where no cameras were installed.

Superintendent of Police (City) Anant Dev said Thursday: "The burglars opened two cases of the counter where only Gili diamond jewellery was kept."The burglary was discovered by Shoppers Stop employees Wednesday when the store was opened around 3 p.m. after Holi. The heist probably happened a day earlier.

"The police have asked us to prepare an inventory of the missing items. We are in the process of doing it and have informed our senior management at Mumbai about the robbery it. At present we fear that precious jewellery of around Rs.1 crore (Rs.10 million) is gone but the value could be even higher. We are counting the items," Nagendra Singh, Area Controller-Shoppers Stop, said.

"Most of the CCTVs installed in and around the mall are by us. Despite such big a store, the Shoppers Stop did not install any CCTV for its own security. There should have been proper security measures of the store," a senior member of the Shipra Mall management said.

In the past too, an employee of the Shoppers Stop tried to escape with some cash but was held during the security check by the mall's security staff, he said.