Eighty sovereigns of gold and over four kg of silver ornaments were stolen from the locked house of a doctor-couple near Teppakulam police station on Saturday night.
The burglary came to light when orthopaedic surgeon J. Mathivanan and his wife Kala Mathivanan returned to their home on Kamarajar Salai from their clinic at around 10.15 p.m. When Dr. Mathivanan tried to open the front door, he was shocked to find it locked from inside. When he went to the rear side of the house, he found the iron rods in the ventilation shaft, above a wooden door, broken.
“We suspect that a boy could have been used by the culprits to gain entry into the house. The boy could have squeezed through the 1.5 feet by 2.5 feet opening and after entering the house would have opened the door and the grille gate with the keys left in the house for the others to enter,” a police officer said. The culprits decamped with the gold jewellery and silver ornaments kept in three cupboards after breaking them open.
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The police pressed into service a sniffer dog and forensic experts lifted fingerprints from the scene of the crime.
A police officer said the culprits must have closely monitored the movements of the couple before committing the crime. The couple had left for the hospital only at 6.30 p.m.
“Neighbours had alerted the doctor about the movement of unidentified persons on his premises a couple of days ago. However, he had failed to inform the police,” the officer added.
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Dr. Mathivanan said he had kept the valuables in the house as his banker had not provided him with a locker despite repeated requests.
Last week, a trader was robbed of Rs. 15 lakh on Kamarajar Salai in the same Teppakulam police station limits.