The Bhayandar police have registered a theft of 33 goats from two mutton shop owners, allegedly by a worker hired to look after the animals, on Sunday. The value of the goats is more than Rs 1.40 lakh, the police said. Mohammed Yaseen Qureshi, 54, and Afzal Qureshi own mutton shops at station road in Bhayandar West. The police said, as usual, Mohammed Qureshi closed the shop at 10 pm on Saturday and left its keys with Afzal Qureshi, and went home. He arrived at his shop the next day at 6 am.

Aslam Qureshi, his employee assigned to look after the shop and goats, could not be seen. While looking for him, Mohammed Qureshi went to the godown located behind the shop, and saw that all 13 of his goats and 20 of Afzal Qureshi’s were missing. Aslam used to look after both shop owners' goats. "I called Aslam Qureshi’s mobile number but his phone was switched off. Afzal and I realized that he had cheated us and run away with the goats. We searched a lot for him, and then filed a complaint with the police," said Mohammed Qureshi.