Couple flees with gold jewels after drugging five members of family

TIRUVALLUR: Tension prevailed at Dhawoodkhanpet in Tiruvallur when several members of a family, including a former railway employee were drugged and robbed by a couple on Wednesday.

The police are on the lookout for the accused who are reportedly from Andhra Pradesh. The victim, 65-year-old Sushila, a retired railway employee, lived in Bharathi Nagar with her elderly mother Muniammal, sons Srinivasan and Parthiban, her daughters-in-law Malathi, Hemavathy and grandson Hariharan. A week ago, Ganeshan (30) and Lakshmi (25), claiming to be in the construction business, moved into a vacant portion of Sushila’s home as tenants.

The couple gained the family’s trust. On Wednesday night, the couple served dinner for the family members and gave Sushila, Muniammal and Malathy glasses of milk allegedly laced with drugs. They also gave biryani and liquor laced with drugs to Srinivasan and Parthiban while Parthiban’s wife Hemavathy and her son Hariharan had gone out for their night shift jobs.

“Within minutes all the members fainted and while they lay unconscious on the floor, Ganesan and his wife removed jewellery from the family weighing around 11 sovereigns and fled the scene,” police said. When Hemavathy and her son Hariharan came back in the morning, they were horrified to find their family members lying on the floor. They were rushed to Tiruvallur GMCH.

Based on a complaint by Hemavathy, Tiruvallur Town police registered a case and began enquiries.