Burglars struck for the third time in a month at the Juhu house of former deputy municipal commissioner G. R. Khairnar on Monday night. This time, they stole Rs 200 and his empty wallet.

Khairnar said the accused “might” have entered his second floor flat from the balcony while the family was asleep. “The thief even forgot his sandals in the room,” said Khairnar, who retired from a job at a multinational company last month. He lives in Ideal Apartment near the Juhu circle area.

The family alleged the first theft occurred on September 7, when the thief stole three cellphones. Exactly a month later, in a second theft, the Khairnars lost a laptop with an internet connection, and two new cellphones.

“On both occasions, the police said the thief must have entered through the door,” Khairnar said, adding: “Now I’m sure that on all three occasions, the thief came from the balcony.”

“As far as I know, no complaint was lodged on the earlier two occasions. But even if such thefts did happen, I don’t know about them. I’m not supposed to know about each and every minor case. And this is election time, so all my men have been busy the last few weeks,” said senior Police Inspector M D Avhad of D N Nagar police station.

No one has been questioned in the case so far, officials added.

Khairnar was once called the city’s “Demolition Man” for getting bulldozers to bring down a string of areas of illegal construction across the city, while he was in the BMC — and his style of functioning often brought him in confrontation with both the city’s mafia and its politicians.