Mysuru: House burglars had a field day during Gowri-Ganesha festivals that were celebrated in city two days back. They took advantage of locked houses and decamped with cash and jewellery worth lakhs of rupees. Police said that in all, five houses were burgled in different parts of the city and in one case, thieves ransacked a house in a fit of rage as they did not get anything to steal.
In the first incident, one house in Vijayanagar Second Stage, 7th Main, was burgled by a gang and the house owners had gone out to celebrate the festivals. The house, Number 2422, is located amidst other houses and its front door was forcibly opened using an iron rod.
The house is owned by businessman Venkatesh who hails from Chikkamagaluru. He had gone there with his family on Aug. 23. The incident came to light last evening when the family returned at around 6 pm. They alerted the Vijayanagar Police immediately and a team headed by Inspector P.N. Anil Kumar rushed to the spot along with finger print experts.
The Police found that the thieves had taken away a safe locker that was in the bed room. It contained gold, silver and cash, all worth Rs. 10 lakh. However, the exact estimate is yet to be ascertained as the house owners are in a state of shock.
In another incident in the same locality of Vijayanagar Second Stage, the house of Vivekananda was burgled when the family was away celebrating Gowri-Ganesha festival. The incident came to light when the family returned yesterday. Rs. 1.20 lakh cash and gold ornaments (exact details not known) have been stolen.
On Friday, the day of the festival, miscreants entered the house of one Dr. Hanumanthappa at Vijayanagar by breaking the rear door and decamped with a pair of earrings worth Rs. 10,000 and a gold coin kept in the almirah.
Burglars also entered the house of one Ashok, also in Vijayanagar, ransacked the house before fleeing empty handed. Ashok, along with his family had locked the house and had gone to Bengaluru. The neighbours, who saw the door of the house broken, informed Ashok over phone. On entering the house, Ashok found the door broken and the house ransacked. The burglars did not find anything to steal.
In another incident, miscreants who entered a house in Dattagalli, decamped with gold ornaments worth about Rs. 2 lakh. The burglary took place on Friday night at the house of one Manjunath, when he along with his family had gone out for the festival. The incident came to light when Manjunath returned home yesterday.
Burglars have decamped with gold jewellery kept in the wardrobe of the house. A case has been registered at Kuvempunagar Police.
Sir,
I feel sorry for the people who got burgled on a festive occasion. I am rather puzzled, given the fact house burglaries are fairly frequent, why people leave their cash and valuables at home when they go away? These burglars seems to have advanced “intelligence” on which house to break in to.
I do hope house owners take precautions not to leave valuables in the house when they go away. They should not advertise their absence by locking the front door and not leaving the lights on etc. It is better to thwart these burglaries from happening, as the odds of apprehension of burglars and recovery of the stolen goods is very low.
I wonder if the increase in crimes in Mysore is a consequence of influx of criminals from outside Karnataka.