Daijiworld News Network - Mangalore (GA) - Pics - Dayanand Kukkaje

Mangalore, Apr 24 (Monday, 3-15 pm): In one of the biggest robberies in the city in recent times, a group of 6 masked men decamped with ornaments and cash worth Rs 2 lac from Akashvani Mridanga artiste M R Sainath's house at Yekkur near here in the early hours of Monday April 24.

The robbers are said to have entered the house after breaking open the front door around 3.30 am on Monday.  They threatened the women in the house and held them at knife-point before robbing their ornaments and cash.  The robbers fled the house with 260 grams of gold ornaments, Rs 5,500 in cash and 3 cell phones.

The robbers used knives and screwdrivers to threaten the women.  Out of the 6, three persons conversed in Malayalam while 3 others spoke Kannada with the North Karnataka accent.

Sainath was not in when the robbery took place.  He was in the hospital with his younger daughter who had taken ill a few days ago.  Sainath's wife had passed away a few days ago.  So, only his son Sudhindra (27) and elder daughter Lavanya (25) were in the house along with their relatives Pushpalatha and her two young children who had come only on Sunday April 23.

The robbers after entering the house locked Sudhindra's room from outside.  So, he did not come to know of the robbery at all.  It was only at 8 in the morning when others came that he came to know about it. Since the women gave the robbers all valuables on demand, they were not physically harmed.

While leaving the house robbers locked the women inside and latched the doors.  They also threatened to kill them, should they shout for help or call anyone until morning.

It was only in the morning when people were seen on the road that the women called the passers-by and asked them to open the doors which were locked from outside.

The Kankanady police are investigating the case.  The sniffer dogs were brought in to trace the trails.