vasco
Christmas midnight services ended on a bitter note for a family at New Vaddem, Vasco, when burglars broke into their house and decamped with gold ornaments and cash worth a combined Rs 11 lakh in the wee hours of Monday.
The stolen money included cash of Rs 4 lakh from an investment in postal schemes which had been kept at home and was meant to be deposited in the bank after the Christmas holiday.
According to reports, Jack Fernandes was shocked to find his house, located near Maruti Temple at New Vaddem, burgled when he and his family had gone for the Christmas midnight mass.
Sources said Fernandes along with his family had gone for midnight mass at about 11.30 pm on Sunday and returned home at about 1.30 am.
When the family returned home, the daughter told Fernandes that the gate of the house was open, but Fernandes assumed someone may have stepped in his house to see the Christmas crib in the compound.
However, as they entered the compound, Fernandes' son saw the door lock broken and when they entered the house, they were shocked to find the rooms ransacked and all the cupboards opened.
Fernandes had recently received cash of Rs 4 lakh from an investment in postal schemes and he had kept the cash at home with the intention of depositing it in the bank in his children's name after the bank re-opened after Christmas holiday.
Fernandes informed The Goan that two gold bracelets, two gold chains, rings and other gold ornaments worth Rs 7 lakh and cash of Rs 4 lakh were also missing from his house.
"The burglars will be someone from the same locality and may be someone known, as they knew I had cash from the postal schemes in my house and they also knew they would get exact one hour for me to return home from mass to burgle my house," Fernandes said.
When contacted, Vasco DySP Sunita Sawant told reporters that no complaint had been filed in the incident, but she confirmed that police had gone to the house to make inquiries after Fernandes
had notified them about the burglary.
