Cash, belongings worth Rs 40L looted from bank official’s flat

Bhubaneswar: Unidentified miscreants decamped with gold jewellery, cash and other articles worth nearly Rs 40 lakh from a bank official’s flat located in the busy Raghunathpur area, when the residents were away in the early hours of Wednesday.
The 45-year-owner, Pushkar Thakur, said, “My parents have been staying in the Raghunathpur flat since seven years. But it was empty for the last few days as they were staying in my flat in Bhubaneswar itself (from February 21). On Wednesday morning, we received information about the loot in that flat.”
In his complaint with the Nandankanan police station, Thakur alleged that nearly 100gm of gold jewellery, Rs 1.5 lakh in cash, some Australian dollars and other articles were stolen from the house.
“We are in shock. The apartment has a private security guard and a well-protected surveillance system. However, I came to know on Wednesday that the CCTV cameras were not functioning,” Thakur said.
Acting on Thakur’s complaint, police questioned the security guard and the maid of the house.
“We strongly suspect the involvement of someone close to the victim who may have passed on information to the burglars. We could have gotten vital leads on the robbery had the CCTV cameras been working,” a police officer said.
The flat is located on the third floor of a four-storeyed apartment in the area. “We didn’t have the slightest clue of the loot next door. Though the robbers broke the steel lock of the flat, we could not hear a noise as it was raining heavily that night,” a neighbour residing on the same floor said.
The security guard and society members of the apartment were unavailable for a comment.
It must be mentioned that in February last year, a gang of around 10 masked men broke into a house in Kanan Vihar area, hold a baby at knife-point and looted items worth Rs 10 lakh.