Could pet have averted burglary?

was a Wednesday which reminded G Lakshmi Narasimhulu of his pet - a dog - that died recently. “If only it had been alive..........,” he trails of appearing shattered a day after robbers gained entry into his house at Banjara Hills and walked away with about one kg gold worth Rs 17 lakh.What pains Narasimhulu, a retired manager from State Bank of India (SBI) is the fact that he purchased the jewellery for his daughter’s marriage which was initially scheduled for September but got postponed for some reasons.Post-retirement and at the age of 62, Narasimhulu feels that had his pet been alive, the theft in his house would never had taken place. “We had decided to keep the jewellery in the bank locker. But even before we could do that, it was stolen,” Narasimhulu told ‘Expresso’. It was around 4 am when Narasimhulu, a resident of Shalivahana Nagar in Banjara Hills, woke up to water his garden, a habit the elderly man was used to for last several years.Around the same time, thieves entered the house from the rear door, went to the bedroom, opened the almirah and took away the expensive jewellery. “I did not hear anything as I was busy watering the plants. As a routine, I go for my morning walk and yoga. But before I could begin yoga, I noticed the almirah open and the jewellery missing,” he said.Narasimhulu was reminded of his pet and said “had my pet been alive, I would not have lost the Rs 17 lakh worth jewellery. Though it was still a puppy, it was very alert,” he said.Interestingly, for some reasons, the culprits, after taking away the box containing the jewellery, splashed water all over the almirah and then left the house. In fact, this is the third incident in a month where several tolas of gold has been stolen.A few days ago, at least Rs 10 lakh worth property was stolen from a  house that was apparently locked at S R Nagar while a similar incident was reported from Banjara Hills where in one kg gold was stolen from the house of film producer A Nageswara Rao.The Banjara Hills sub-inspector of police Ravindra Reddy said that all the three thefts took place between 4 am and 5 am. “Special teams have been formed to nab the culprits,” he said. 

MOULI MAREEDU

mouli@expressbuzz.com