Howrah: Thieves emptied a house in Howrah on Sunday evening when its owner was at a hospital in New Town for his mother's cancer treatment. Other family members, too, were at the hospital at the time, and the house on Lakshmi Narayantala Road, around 1.5 km from Nabanna, was empty.
According to Surajit Das, whose 70-year-old mother was in hospital, the family went to visit her when thieves broke into the house, ransacked it, and stole around 100 grams of gold jewellery and cash. The family filed a complaint with the police.
Cops at the AJC Bose Botanic Garden police station said they were collecting CCTV footage from cameras installed in the neighbourhood to identify the thieves. There is a traffic kiosk a few metres from the house, a police station a kilometre away, and Nabanna at a distance of 1.5 km.
The daylight robbery in a locality so close to a high-security zone has left local residents alarmed. A city police officer said a bike used in the theft was recovered, and efforts are underway to identify the culprits.