TEAM HERALD
MARGAO: A major early morning burglary in the house of noted tiatrist Menino-de-Bandar sent shock waves in Benaulim, with the accused, believed to be a lone dumb miscreant, decamping with gold ornaments valued around Rs 12 lakh.
The incident occurred in Menino’s bungalow near Maria Hall, Benaulim at around 8 am when his wife had gone outside the house and daughter had taken her child to school. The family has strongly suspected the hand of a dumb person who was spotted walking out of the house after committing the daring offense.
“I and my wife had returned home at around 11 pm on Thursday night after attending a wedding reception and had kept the gold ornaments on the table in the bedroom. This morning, I woke up at around 7.45 am and after giving blessings to my granddaughter before going to school as usual, went to rest again, while my wife also left the house. I suspect the dumb person must have had effected entry inside taking advantage of the fact that the main door was open,” Menino recalled.
He pointed out that his daughter, who returned home after reaching her child, was in the garden when she spotted a young man walking out of the house. “She confronted the young man about his presence in the house, but he made it appear that he was dumb. Finding something fish, my daughter narrated the presence of the unknown man to my wife and later woke me up, but the man had already made good his escape before we could reach down,” he said.
It was only later that we realised that the gold ornaments kept in the bedroom located upstairs in the bungalow had gone missing. Frantic efforts made by the family to trace the dumb person proved futile and they finally intimated the incident to the Colva police. A police dog that was pressed into service sniffed its way up to Maria hall before losing track.
Menino told Herald that a dumb person from Karnataka had made his presence felt at his residence early morning around 10 days ago. “Upon questioning his credentials, the dumb person had produced a pamphlet in Kannada, but he had left after we refused to entertain him. I suspect that the same person might have retuned back after doing a survey of the house,” he said.
Incidentally, the residents found a woman from Kerala moving door-to-door begging early Friday morning in Benaulim. Even as the Colva police initiated investigations, Menino along with his friends were spotted at the railway station late Friday evening in search of the accused.
