The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Jewellery, money lost in Aminjikarai break-in

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Nov 30, 2004

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Jewellery, money lost in Aminjikarai break-in

By Our Staff Reporter

CHENNAI, NOV. 29. Thieves broke into a businessman's house at Aminjikarai here and decamped with 100 sovereigns of jewellery and Rs. 80,000 in cash late Saturday night.

The incident came to light when the businessman, Dev Anand Sarma, returned home on Sunday morning after a two-day Salem visit.

Mr. Sarma (33) said his family left on Friday night, leaving his mother and his elder brother's wife in the upper portion of the house on Chellammal Street.

Thieves broke in through the grill gate and the entrance. They forced their way into the locked bedroom, where the jewellery and money were kept. The family had split the jewellery and money and kept them in an almirah and two corrugated steel boxes.

The intruders removed the almirah key from under the bed and took away a portion of the jewellery and cash. They then broke the steel boxes and removed the jewellery and cash, Mr. Sarma said.

Though a lot of silver articles were kept in the house, the intruders removed only some of them, he said.

Fingerprints lifted

A police team lifted fingerprints. A sniffer dog ran up to the nearby Gajapathy Colony and lost track thereafter, the inmates said.

The house is located on the eastern end of a complex with 19 twin-type houses.

Other residents in the complex refused to say anything on the crime. Mr. Sarma claimed that no such incident had occurred in the area or on the premises in recent memory.

He said that on Saturday, one of the houses in the complex saw a lot of activity till 11 p.m., in preparation for a function (held on Sunday).

A few persons put up a shamiana and were preparing food on the premises. The break-in could have happened after the late night activity ceased, Mr. Sarma said.

The Aminjikarai police said three fingerprints were lifted from the scene. Three special parties were formed to investigate the crime. They questioned the watchman.

Another crime

In another incident at Shanthi Colony, Anna Nagar, Rs 1.20 lakhs in cash was removed from the office of a construction company.

The police said the amount was kept for distribution to labourers at the company's construction site. The police suspect that one of the workers could be involved in the crime.

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