The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Armed dacoits loot pawn shop

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Sunday, Nov 15, 2009
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Armed dacoits loot pawn shop

Special Correspondent

CHENNAI: Armed dacoits looted a pawn shop on Kundrathur Road on Friday night. The gang barged into a house next to the shop and locked up the family members in a room before drilling a hole on a common wall (separating the house and the shop) to commit the burglary.

According to police, a gang of at least six persons forced open the door of a house in Moonram Kattalai around midnight when a family of five, including two senior citizens, was sleeping. Before they could react, the gang entered and switched off the lights.

The masked suspects sprinkled petrol on Puppy (46), her daughter Mythili (24), son Rajkumar (19), Puppy’s father Simon (67) and mother Lourdu Mary (65) and told them not to raise an alarm. Rajkumar (19), who tried to offer resistance, was assaulted causing minor injury.

The family was confined to the kitchen with a warning that they would be set on fire if they tried to shout or contact anybody. The dacoits assured the victims that they had not come to harm them. They then used a drilling machine to make a hole on the wall and entered the pawn shop. They stole about 10 kg of silver, 100 gm of gold jewels and some mobile phone recharge coupons. While leaving, they switched on the lights and locked the house from outside.

The family remained in the kitchen until police, on information from a teashop owner who heard their cries, came and opened the door.

“We are following some clues. Since the lights were switched off, the family members could not see much…we have formed special teams to investigate the case,” Deputy Commissioner of Police (Ambattur) R. Samuthirapandi said.

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