More than 50 sovereigns of gold jewellery were stolen from a house that belonged to a woman worker under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) on Pillaiyar Koil street in Perumbakkam village near Tiruvannamalai town.
Police said that along with her three daughters, N. Pookavanam, 65, a widow, left her house around 7.30 a.m. for work to deepen a community pond in the village under the MGNREGA scheme. Most of the women in the street have been engaged under the scheme for various infrastructure works in the village by panchayat officials. As many women went to work, most of the houses on the street were locked.
When Pookavanam returned home with her daughters in the afternoon, she saw the lock at the main door broken. As she entered her house, household items and belongings were scattered throughout the house. The cupboard was broken, and valuables went missing. Based on the alert, Tiruvannamalai Taluk police reached the spot and took fingerprints. A case has been registered.
Initial inquiry revealed that of the 30 houses on the stretch, the burglary happened only at Pookavanam’s house, as one of her two sons, N. Arul, sends money regularly to her. Along with his family, Arul has settled in Dubai (UAE) for many years and has been supporting his mother since then. Further investigation is on, the police said.
