A bunch of burglars have given the city police some food for thought.
In what can be called out-of-the-vessel thinking, they turned over pots of leftover sambar, rasam and milk to cover their tracks after emptying a house in Mandaveli of valuables, including 40 sovereigns of gold jewellery.
The ruse didn’t work, however, with investigators managing to lift fingerprints that have matched those of a known burglar.
The residents of the house were away on a pilgrimage to Tirupati at the time. The police suspect the burglars used a big stone covered with a thick cloth to break open the door and silence the impact.
The incident took place in the ground-floor residence of Murugan, a private-firm employee, early on Thursday, in the thickly-populated locality of VC Garden, 2 Street.
“Rajendra Babu, the second-floor resident, found the main door of Murugan’s house broken around 5 a.m. on his way out to buy milk. He immediately rang up Murugan and informed him,” said Shanti, Murugan’s aunt, who came to the spot after being alerted by her nephew.
Close to 44 sovereigns of gold jewellery and a sum of about Rs. 20,000, including money from a piggy bank, were missing, Shanti said.
The house was completely ransacked and clothes and other household articles were strewn about.
An almirah in the hall where the gold and cash were stored was swept clean.
Murugan, his wife Nirmala, and their two-year-old daughter Mohanalakshmi, had left to Tirupathi early on Wednesday along with 12 other members of their family. They returned on Thursday evening after learning of the burglary.
