A group of nine dacoits stormed into a house near Southadka Mahaganapati Temple, which is near Dharmasthala, tied the house owner and stabbed his wife before making away with cash and gold ornaments in the wee hours on Monday.
According to B.M. Laxmi Prasad, Superintendent of Police, Dakshina Kannada, the dacoits took away ₹1.5 lakh in cash and 240 gm of gold ornaments at about 2.15 a.m. Geetha, the wife of house owner Tukrappa Shetty, an agriculturist, has been admitted to a hospital for treatment.
When the dog in the house began to bark Mr. Shetty came out to the balcony. Soon, the dacoits, who were outside the front door, climbed the balcony and tied him to a chair. They began searching for valuables.
When Ms. Geetha too came to the balcony, one of the gang members threatened to kill her and stabbed her in the abdomen and on her hand and forced her and her two children to show the valuables in the rooms on the first floor. They also searched the rooms on the ground floor before fleeing.
Ms. Geetha, who was taken to a nearby hospital for treatment, was shifted to a hospital in Mangaluru later. The family is yet to recover from the shock to give the turn of events in detail, police said.
The dacoits had masked their faces. While some of them spoke in Kannada used in Hassan, others spoke in Tulu.
A special police team has been formed to arrest them, Mr. Prasad said.
Southadka is on the road which connects Dharmasthala with the Mangaluru-Bengaluru National Highway at Periyashanthi.
