Silchar: Rs 1.5 Crore Gold Stolen from Retired Professor’s Home in Tarapur

A retired professor’s house was burgled in Silchar’s Tarapur area in the early hours of Monday (September 21), with gold jewellery worth around Rs 1.5 crore allegedly stolen from a locker.

The incident took place at the residence of retired professor Asit Chakraborty on Khudiram Sarani By Lane off Shib Bari Road in Tarapur. The family has lodged an FIR at Tarapur Police Station and police have started an investigation.

According to the family, the burgler broke open a sliding door at around 3 am and entered the house. The locker was subsequently broken open and the gold jewellery kept inside was allegedly taken away.

Speaking about the incident, Asit Chakraborty said he went to the police station at morning and filed an FIR. He said police later visited the house and examined the scene. According to him, the thieves allegedly threw away the jewellery boxes while fleeing from the area.

At the time of the incident, Chakraborty’s wife Sangeeta Chakraborty and their two daughters, Sagnika Chakraborty and Angka Chakraborty, were asleep inside the house.

Sangeeta said one of their daughters noticed someone near the cupboard in the early hours. As it was dark, she initially thought it was her father. She then noticed that the door had been damaged and realised that someone had entered the house. She raised an alarm, alerting the rest of the family.

The daughter said she had seen a shadow near the cupboard and noticed a man moving away as she woke up. She initially assumed her father was near the cupboard, but then saw that he was still asleep. She subsequently noticed the damaged door and called out to her parents.

The family said the stolen jewellery had been accumulated over the past 25 to 30 years. It reportedly included Sangeeta Chakraborty’s wedding jewellery as well as gold ornaments kept for the future weddings of their two daughters.

Sangeeta described the loss as the loss of the family’s lifelong savings. The family said more than Rs 1 crore worth of gold was stolen, while the overall estimated value of the jewellery has been put at around Rs 1.5 crore.

Police have recovered a pair of pliers or a pin-nose tool from the area, which the family suspects may have been used to break the door and locker.

According to the family, the thief or thieves moved towards a nearby wooded area after taking the jewellery and allegedly left the empty jewellery boxes there.

Police have examined the scene and are conducting further investigation. The family said there are no CCTV cameras at houses in the immediate lane, making it difficult so far to identify the person responsible.

With the Puja season approaching, the burglary has caused concern among local residents. Police are continuing efforts to identify the accused and recover the stolen jewellery.