Elderly house owner tied up, 45 sovereigns of gold robbed

Thrissur: A three-member gang tied up an elderly man and robbed gold jewellery weighing nearly 45 sovereigns and cash worth Rs 50,000 from his house at Mannuthy Mullakkara, near Thrissur, in the early hours on Sunday.As per preliminary information received by police, the gang carried out the robbery after tying the hands and legs of Cherupara Veettil Somasekharan (72), of Ollukkara, and stuffing his mouth with cloth pieces.Somasekharan was alone at home when the robbery took place. His wife and daughter had gone to a relative’s house. His son is working abroad.The Hindi-speaking gang reportedly entered the house after breaking open the grill door on the backside of the house. Somasekharan could untie the knot and free his hand and legs after the robbers left. He ran out of the house and alerted police and neighbours.Police are investigating the case with the help of a dog squad and forensic experts. There are no CCTV cameras in the house, and police collected visuals captured by cameras in other houses in the area. Police are also not ruling out possibilities that the suspects might have used Hindi to divert the probe.