Criminals looted valuables worth Rs 2.5 lakh from the ancestral house of the late former chief minister Abdul Ghafoor in Gopalganj district late on Wednesday night.

Police said the criminals barged into the former chief minister’s house at Sareya village under the jurisdiction of Majha police station in Gopalganj district, around 145km north-west of Patna, and fled with garments, utensils and other valuables.

The neighbours noticed the theft when they woke up in the morning.

Ghafoor’s daughter-in-law Shahnawaz Beghum said the incident took place when the family members had gone to Patna.

The residents informed her on Thursday morning that the rear gate of the house was damaged and it was open.

“We reached the house only to find our valuables missing,” she said.

The neighbours didn’t notice anything as they were busy celebrating Diwali.

The noise of firecrackers made the task easy for the thieves, who broke open the rear gate and committed the crime, said Shahwaz’s son-in-law Naseem Parvez, who reached Sareya village from Patna on Thursday.

Majha police station house officer (SHO) Manish Kumar said a complaint had been lodged and efforts were on to trace the criminals.

“A police team visited the spot and inquired about the incident,” he said, adding that the family was not present in the house when the incident happened.

Abdul Ghafoor, a veteran Congress leader, was the chief minister of Bihar from July 2, 1973 to April 11, 1975. He died in Patna on July 10, 2004. R

Sareya residents said his family mostly lives in Patna and visits their native village on some occasions.