KOLKATA: A group of robbers on Sunday evening entered a three-storey house from the terrace, broke open a locked almirah on the first floor and looted Rs 3 lakh and gold while the family was watching television on the ground floor. Around Rs 1 lakh, all notes soaked, was mysteriously found in an alley right behind the house on Monday evening.
According to complainant Gopal Halder, he and his wife were not at home when the crime took place. Other family members — the couple’s son, Halder’s mother and his niece — were busy watching television on the ground floor.
The wet notes that were recovered after 24 hours
“The theft took place between 6pm and 8pm. The thieves most likely had entered from the terrace and went down to the first floor. They broke open the almirah on the first floor, looted the cash and jewellery and fled from the house. My son came upstairs around 8pm and found the room, and especially the almirah, ransacked,” claimed Halder.
“We suspect that someone in our neighbourhood who has a fair idea of our house is involved. They even dumped the money for the fear of getting caught. However, the news of the theft has not yet been accepted by my wife who is ill. I hope that the jewellery is recovered,” said Halder.
Cops at the crime scene
The cops said they were keeping all options open in their investigation. Even as police are questioning local criminals, they are not ruling out the insider angle. Sources said a drug abuse history in the neighbourhood, along with the fact that this money was part of a loan raised recently, are also being looked into.
“We will ask the victim’s son to record his statement with us. There are still a few loose ends in his statement. The family claimed they had recovered the Rs 1 lakh from a road which is extremely narrow and no one except a local will think of entering it. The money recovered was all wet despite it being kept in a bag. We came to know of the recovery by the family much after they had removed the bag from the spot. We are sending the bag to forensics for fingerprints. All these are part of the probe,” said an investigating officer.
