In a daring robbery, a four-member masked gang looted around 15 sovereigns of gold and Rs. 10,000 after breaking into the residence of a farmer’s family at M. Chatrapatti in Madurai district in the early hours of Monday.
The robbers are said to have carried a knife, two machetes and a gun, the police said.
According to the police, the gang had used a gas cutter to cut open the main gate and the iron grille gate.
They used the same cutter to burn the wooden door too.
The family members of P. Senthilkumar, a farmer, were fast asleep, until the men, who had masked their faces with ‘monkey’ caps, woke them up. His 70-year-old father was sleeping in another room.
Baby at knife-pointOne of the robbers took the six-month-old baby of Senthilkumar and placed a knife on it.
Threatening them with dire consequences, they forced Senthilkumar and his wife Saritha to part with a gold chain.
Upon entering the room, one of them inflicted bleeding injury on the right wrist of Senthilkumar, with a view to terrifying the family members, the police said.
They took away few gold jewels and cash from the almirah.
WarningThe robbers, who snatched the mobile phones from the couple, removed their batteries and took them away with them warning that they should not raise an alarm.
The police added that the house was in an isolated place. There was no house in a radius of 500 metres, a police source said.
Senthilkumar was treated as an outpatient in a hospital.
The Oomachikulam Inspector of Police, M. Periyasamy, who inspected the scene of crime, suspected that the robbers could have come in a car.
Local people claimed that they saw a car parked far away from the house.
