Homemaker Smita Agasthi recounts how the pillion-rider of a motorcycle snatched her gold chain on Andul Road. Picture by Sanat Kumar Sinha

Thieves decamped with cash and jewellery worth Rs 1.7 lakh from a house on Swami Vivekananda Road, Howrah, on Tuesday.

The incident took place when the house was empty. Basudeb Pal, a retired bank official, had left around 11.30am to make arrangements for the shradh ceremony of his mother, Bela Rani, who died last Saturday.

His wife Suvankari had gone to Howrah Maidan to buy clothes and other items for the ceremony. The couple’s son, Debasish, and daughter, Nibedita, had left for work.

Basudeb returned around 12.45pm and found the door locked from inside. His wife returned while he was waiting outside. “We went to the rear of the house and found the door there broken. Ornaments and Rs 50,000 were missing from the almirah,” said Pal.

“We got the jewellery out of the bank locker since we had to attend some marriage ceremonies,” said Suvankari.

A probe revealed that the thieves had entered the house by scaling the eight-ft boundary wall. They broke the lock of the back door with an iron rod. The key to the almirah was kept under under the bed.

Chain snatched: A chain was snatched from the neck of a woman on Andul Road by two youths on a motorcycle on Tuesday.

Smita Agasthi was bringing her son home from school when the pillion-rider of the two-wheeler that passed by snatched the chain from her neck. No one has been arrested. “We are investigating both incidents,” said Niraj Kumar Singh, the superintendent of police (Howrah).