85 sovereigns looted from Kodambakkam apartment

Police said, Prashanth, who works with Kodak at Mylapore, was residing in a second-floor apartment at Zacharia’s Colony, Kodambakkam. Prashanth had gone on an overseas trip after locking the house a few days ago. 

On Saturday, the neighbours found his front door lock broken open and passed on the information over phone. Prashanth came home on Sunday and found the jewellery kept inside a bureau missing. The burglar had also taken away three traditional silver lamps. He subsequently lodged a complaint with the Kodambakkam police. 

Police sources said they were surveying footages collected from private CCTV cameras in the locality but are yet to get a break through. 

The number of house breaks in the city has started going up again, after a brief lull following demonetisation. Crime had come down in the city post November and the police had claimed it to be the success of their innovative initiatives like mapping of anti-socials in each locality and passing on the data to every beat patrolling team. 

Police had created an exhaustive list of over 18,000 criminals in the city and supplied it to every beat patrolling team so that they know the number of anti-socials under their jurisdiction and can periodically monitor their activities. 

However, the increase in crime rate in the last two months, especially with the same system prevailing, indicate that the reduction in crime rate was not because of the move from the cops but because of demonetisation. 

“Routine police work has been badly affected for the last two months due to various issues. First there was the jallikattu protests and then came the political unrest. The department has been focusing on maintaining law and order. This affected every other work and this made life easy for the criminals,” a senior police official said. 

Burglars decamped with 10 sovereigns of gold jewellery and Rs 8,000 in cash from a house after attacking a couple at Pandithar Street, Nerkundram on Saturday night. 

Police said the duo entered the house of Chengalvarayan after opening the door bolt by inserting an iron rod through an open window. Hearing the noise, the couple woke up and saw two persons inside the house. When the couple started crying for help, the duo assaulted them using wooden logs and both fell unconscious. 

The duo then located the keys of the bureau and looted the jewellery and cash kept inside the safe. On regaining consciousness, the couple informed the neighbours, who admitted them to a hospital.

The Chozhavaram police registered a case and lifted fingerprints from the spot. They have launched a search for the burglars.