A series of burglaries took place at locked houses on adjoining streets of Okkiampet in Okkiyam-Thoraipakkam early on Monday. The culprits decamped with gold jewellery, cash, mobile phones and other valuables from more than 10 houses whose residents had gone out of town for Pongal holidays.
According to police sources, burglaries took place at four houses in Vivekandan Street, three houses in Thiruvalluvar Street, three houses in Lakshmi Nagar and one house in Shantham Avenue. However, only six victims had lodged police complaints.
Speaking to The Hindu , M.Sulochana (27) of Vivekanandan Street said, the residence of her mother-in-law Alli, who lives next door was burgled when the she was away.
“I woke up this morning to find my house locked from outside. With great difficulty I managed to open the door and found the lock on the door of my mother-in-law's house broken. Eight sovereigns of gold jewellery and Rs. 80,000 kept in an almirah inside are missing,” she said.
Some residents of Shantham Avenue added that few men seen loitering in the area were chased away by residents of Periya Street around 12.30 a.m. on Monday. They said the men vanished into the night and are suspected to have struck at the houses later in the night. While many victims had gone out of town for Pongal, Gijendra Mishra (37), a security guard living in Shantham Avenue had gone for work when his house was targeted by burglars. Two mobile phones and Rs. 9,000 was reportedly stolen. Residents of Okkiyampet near Kannagi Nagar lament that thefts are frequent in their locality as there is not enough policing in the area. Two teams under the police inspectors of Kannagi Nagar and Thoraipakkam has been formed to investigate the burglaries, police sources added.
