A day after 10 robbers broke into a house in Kochi looting 5 sovereign gold, the city’s residents were in for a shock with reports of another robbery on Saturday, with armed members of a gang unleashing violence on the family.
According to the police, a gang comprising around 15 members broke into the house of Nannappilli Anandakumar near the Hill Palace around 2.30am. Anand Kumar resides with his wife, mother and two sons, and the family was physically and mentally tormented for almost two hours before the gang decamped with over 50 sovereigns of gold.
The gang reportedly tied up family members and also looted three mobile phones, Rs. 20,000 in cash and two ATM cards.
The gang tied up Anandakumar, 50, his mother Swarnamma, 72, wife Sharimol, 46, and their two sons, stuffed plastic into their mouths, before escaping with the valuables. Anandakumar, who resisted the theft attempt, suffered head injuries after one of the gang members attacked him with an iron rod. He has been admitted to a city hospital, with eight stitches on his head.
"There was no way we could retaliate. And everytime we did, they hit us," Sharimol told the media.
The gang did not even spare 72-year-old Swarnamma. "They stuffed plastic into my mouth. Could not move and not even reach out to drink water," she said.
Police officials also said that the gang smashed Anand on his face using a wooden plank as soon as he came out of the room. They assaulted him when he tried to resist the robbery. “They tied his hands and feet and gagged him using a plastic tape,” said a police officer, adding that the men spoke in Hindi as well as Malayalam, reports TOI.
The gang entered the two-storeyed house after removing the window grills of the kitchen. The neighbours reached the spot around 4.30 am after hearing the screams of the family members and alerted the police. City Police Commissioner M P Dinesh and other top police officers visited the spot. Dog Squad and Fingerprint Bureau sleuths examined the crime scene.
On Friday, armed miscreants attacked an elderly couple and took away their gold ornaments from their residence at Pullepady. The gang attacked EK Ismail and his wife as they were getting ready to leave to the mosque. They even slit the wrist of the woman in a bid to scare the couple.
Police suspect the involvement of the same gang in both the burglaries. P Vijayan, the Kochi range IG said, “We are collecting details of similar operations that have happened in the country, especially in south India. Most probably, both attacks were done by the same team. A team led by the city police commissioner was formed and a probe is on to nab the suspects”, reports TOI.