The house of a businessman was ransacked at Kirumampakkam and jewellery and cash were stolen a few days ago.
The owner of the house Rajaraman and his wife had gone to Tiruvarur to meet their daughter on February 17.
When they returned home on Tuesday noon, they found the rear door broken open and the house ransacked.
About 110 sovereigns of gold jewellery, 2.5 kg of silver articles and ₹4 lakh cash were stolen. Mr. Rajaraman is a known businessman in the locality.
‘Left in a hurry’
According to Karthikeyen, son of Mr. Rajaraman, his parents left for Tiruvarur in a hurry after learning about his sister’s illness. “There was not much time to keep the valuables and cash in the bank,” he said.
He said two rooms that were connected to an alarm were untouched.
The crime could have been committed between Saturday noon and Tuesday morning, he added. The family alerted the Kirumampakkam police about the crime on Tuesday noon.
The police rushed fingerprint experts and a sniffer dog to the spot. The dog was able to track the scent of the criminal up to a place where a barren land connects with the Puducherry-Cuddalore Main Road.
According to a police source, preliminary investigation pointed to the involvement of local people.
A stranger could not have sneaked into the sprawling backyard of the house, especially at night.
A senior official said two teams from the police and one from the special task force had started investigation into the case by questioning the habitual offenders who were released recently.
Media informed late
Though the crime was reported to the police on Tuesday noon, the media was not informed till late in the night. Usually when crimes of such magnitude are reported, the media would be alerted by the police.
But in this case, the Kirumampakkam police decided to keep the information under wraps till late in the night.
