Bengaluru: A family busy celebrating a birthday on the ground floor of their residence lost 30 grams of gold ornaments and Rs 2.3 lakh cash kept on the first floor to two miscreants on Mangammanapalya Main Road, Madeena Nagar, on Sunday.
The duo is said to have entered at least half a dozen houses earlier in the afternoon but were not successful in laying their hands on any valuables.
The scooter-borne duo noticed the celebrations on the ground floor of textile store owner Akbar Shariff's house, parked their vehicle some distance away, walked up the stairs around 6.25pm and left with whatever gold ornaments and cash they could lay their hands on in a hurry.
By the time they walked down and reached their scooter, the entire area plunged into darkness owing to a power cut. They went back to the first floor, hoping to sweep clean of whatever gold ornaments were remaining but were spotted by Shariff's uncle, who asked him who they were. They cooked up a story that they were looking for someone called Gopal and when the family member said, there was no Gopal in that house, they left in a hurry. Suspecting something amiss, the family member alerted Shariff's wife who noticed that gold was missing.
According to Shariff's complaint to Bandepalya police, his wife went down to ready his niece around 6.20.
"If my uncle had not climbed up, the miscreants would have stolen the remaining ornaments. My family members immediately went in search of the duo, but in vain. I usually don't leave the cash at the shop as it is unsafe, but keeping it at home has also proved unsafe. The cash was meant to buy items for my shop," Shariff said.
When he went to the police station, three persons residing in the area too had come to the police station with similar complaints. The duo appears to be in their early 20s. They are captured in the CCTV camera installed in his building and the adjacent one. "After returning home, I checked the footage. They were carrying a backpack to keep the stolen valuables," Shariff said.
A police officer said another resident from the area had complained that a school bag was stolen from their house. The bag was later found abandoned at a park nearby. "We found an Aadhaar card in the bag and returned it to the resident. The duo goes looking for unlocked houses and calls out people with random names. If no one responds, they enter such houses and steal valuables. We have got some clues about their whereabouts, and we will nab them soon," he added.