Burglars broke into three locked houses and decamped with cash and gold jewellery at Rajamangalam late on Monday night.
According to police, the burglary took place in a building comprising four houses at Teachers Guild Colony First Street. While the building owner, Govindaraju (45), who resides in the ground floor, had gone abroad, tenants in two other houses in the first floor had gone to work.
Burglars broke the locks to open the doors and used crowbars to open an almirah and safe. In total, about 18 sovereigns of gold jewellery, Rs. 40,000 in cash and 500 gm of silver were reported stolen from the three houses. Burglars locked the door of the fourth house from outside to prevent tenants sleeping there from coming out.
Police sources said that another locked house in J.J. Nagar was burgled on Monday night. As the family had gone on a holiday, the loss of valuables would be known after they return.
“The burglary took place around midnight. The incident came to light after the building owner returned from abroad at 12.30 a.m. Fingerprint experts and sniffer dogs were pressed into service. Special teams of the Rajamangalam police formed to investigate the case are following certain clues,” Deputy Commissioner of Police T.S. Anbu said.
In another incident, Lakshmi (32) of Kalaignar Nagar in Taramani, lodged a complaint with the Velachery police that six sovereigns of jewels and five kg of silver articles were stolen from her house on Monday.
Police said the complainant, working as Office Assistant in the Central Leather Research Institute, returned from Kancheepuram on Monday and found her house burgled.