Gang loots 100 sovereign from Kovai elderly couple at knifepoint

Police said Francis Rozario (60) and his wife Elizabeth Mary (55) were asleep in the ground floor, while his ailing father Lourdsamy and servant Therasa were in the first floor of the house.

Around 1.30 am, Rozario woke up on hearing some unusual sound and found four masked robbers inside the house. “The thieves tied and gagged him and his wife under knifepoint. They then opened the bureau and took away 100 sovereigns of gold jewels and Rs 1.4 lakhs in cash,” police said.

After the burglars left, the couple managed to free themselves and informed neighbours. On receiving information, the Ramanathapuram police rushed to the spot and held inquiries.

The police said that the CCTV camera fixed in the house had become defunct. Also four dogs in the house were locked up in a room by the family members to prevent them from licking some insecticide sprayed in the premises. This turned out to be an advantage for the robbers.

Police said one of the robbers spoke fluently in English. Police suspect that the burglars had struck after doing a thorough recce of the area. A case has been registered and a search is on to nab the culprits.

In a similar incident in neighbouring Tirupur district, a helmet wearing thief got into the house of Ebinezer, a textile firm owner, and snatched away over ten sovereigns of gold jewels by threatening his wife Poongodi (32) with a sickle.

Police said, Poongodi was sitting in the veranda waiting for her husband to return, while their two sons were in the first floor of the house. “The accused resembling a north Indian jumped over the compound wall and took away the jewels worn by her,” they said. The police are investigating with CCTV images showing the thief scaling down the compound wall and fleeing away in ascooter.