Burglar flees with jewels, cash from house after spraying inmates with a sedative

CHENNAI: A burglar entered a retired postal department officer's house in Villivakkam on Sunday night and escaped with at least 65 sovereigns of gold jewellery and Rs 27,000 in cash after allegedly spraying sedative in the faces of the three sleeping inmates.
According to the police, Balakrishnan (65) and his daughters Amutha Priya (26) and Geetha Priya (23) woke up at 7 am on Monday with a drowsy feeling.They found the bureau open, clothes strewn on the floor and some jewels valuables missing.
"I have been living with my daughters after the death of my wife. I recently bought the jewels for one of my daughters' marriage. I kept all my savings at home," Balakrishnan told TOI.
Fingerprint experts lifted prints from the bureau and the door and a sniffer dog was pressed into service.
Based on the accounts of some residents in the locality, police officials said the burglar went to a vegetable vendor's house on 57th street at 2.30 am. His wife who opened the door after the bell sounded saw a man in trousers and oil smeared all over his body. She locked the door and alerted her husband who came out but there was no one there. They went to the terrace and saw a man in a white dress, the police said.
Senior police officers who inspected Balakrishnan's house suspect that the man who tried to strike at the vegetable vendor's house was involved.
The Villivakkam police registered a case and launched a hunt. "We will try to match the fingerprints lifted from the house with those in our records," Anna Nagar deputy commissioner of police MT Ganesamoorthy told TOI.