An apartment on the first floor of a four-storey building in Lake Gardens in south Kolkata was robbed while its occupants were away for a few hours on Thursday afternoon.
The building has seven apartments — two on each floor and one on the top floor — but no guard. It has multiple closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras but the digital video recorders attached to them have been malfunctioning for a few days, police said.
The owner of the apartment, Sunil Goenka, and his son Sujash were away for work. Goenka’s wife Simi had gone shopping.
“I returned home around 4.30pm and found the main door of our apartment ajar. The lock on the collapsible gate was broken. I rushed in and saw that our house had been ransacked,” Simi said.
The family has reported that two laptops and Rs 50,000 had been stolen from three cupboards, which were found open when Simi returned home.
No one was arrested till Friday evening.
The neighbourhood is dotted with standalone buildings and apartment blocks without security guards.
“Construction work is on in so many places around our building. It seems the sound of the break-in was drowned out by the sound of construction work,” Simi said.
An elderly neighbour who lives alone in her apartment said she was scared of what would happen if someone tried to strike her home, too.
Officers of Lake police station have started a case.
Officers from Lalbazar, too, inspected the apartment.
A senior police officer said unguarded buildings become vulnerable if there were no CCTV cameras or if such cameras stopped functioning.
“In such unguarded buildings, flat owners should ensure their security by installing burglar alarms or peeping holes with cameras,” said the officer.
Another officer said the best way to ensure the security of a building was to have guards in two shifts.
The police have started a case based on the complaint lodged by the Goenkas.
An officer said it was likely the person who robbed the house was aware that the flat next to the Goenkas’ was unoccupied.