In a daring daylight burglary at the posh CIT Colony in Mylapore on Saturday, culprits reportedly broke open the front door of a first-floor house on Bishop Wallers Avenue West and decamped with gold jewellery weighing close to 50 sovereigns and cash. The burglary took place adjacent to the street housing the residence of former Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi.
Sources with the Mylapore police said the residence of S. Govindasamy (70), a retired employee of Ashok Leyland was targeted by burglars around 11 a.m. when he and his family members were in their ground-floor house. “Govindasamy's son Vijayakumar, who resides with his family on the first floor and is also an employee of Ashok Leyland, left for work in the morning. His family members locked the house and came down to spend time with the elderly couple. Around 1 p.m. Govindasamy went up and found the door lock broken and the house looked ransacked,” said an investigating officer.
Gold jewellery weighing nearly 50 sovereigns placed in an almirah and some cash in the house were missing, the officer added.
It is suspected that the burglars gained entry into the first-floor houses by climbing through the terraces of adjoining buildings or it could be the work of an insider.
The residents refused to speak to media persons claiming no such burglary had taken place. However, neighbours said that policemen came to the house around 2.30 p.m. and inspected the first-floor house. A few watchmen on the street said that they didn't notice any stranger walking to the senior citizen's residence and came to know about the burglary only when police personnel came to the spot in the afternoon.