Thieves use spray, loot jewellery and cash worth lakhs

A gang of miscreants allegedly used some spray to make residents drowsy and escaped with cash and jewellery worth a few lakhs at Atapara in Sinthi area in North Kolkata in the wee hours of Thursday. The daring theft occurred at Kalicharan Ghosh Road at the house of one Pritam Neogi, a businessman dealing in sweets.

The theft came to the notice of the house owner at around 5.45 am when he was going to the toilet. He found the almirah door ajar with things inside it in a rummaged condition. The locker which contained precious jewellery was also empty. Cash worth around Rs 40,000 and jewellery were missing as per the complaint that was lodged with the Sinthi police station.

"I had gone to bed at around 3 pm. The theft has been committed after that. The miscreants somehow climbed up to the first floor verandah of the house and entered through the door that had a broken lock and was kept open. We have every reasons to believe that they might have used some spray to make us drowsy as the almirah is in the same room where my wife and I were sleeping," Neogi said.

Sleuths investigating the theft does not rule out involvement of any person familiar with the family in the act. "The key that was used to open the almirah was in a cupboard adjacent to it. There was no attempt to break the lock. We feel that the miscreants were aware of the place where the key was," an investigating officer said. Several flower pots that were on the balcony were also found to be broken.

Officers from the anti-burglary section of Kolkata Police's detective department also visited the spot. The police are scanning the CCTV footage on Kalicharan Ghosh Road for further leads in the case.