Burglars had a field day in Jamshedpur, targeting two homes in Kadma and a shop in Bagbera in the small hours of Monday and bagging cash and jewellery worth over a lakh.

An unidentified gang targeted Tata Steel quarters 78 and 82 on Tansa Road in Kadma in quick succession after Sunday midnight. Both homes were empty and the break-ins came to light only in the morning.

While Rs 15,000 in cash, two wrist watches and silver ornaments were cleaned out from Q.78 of G-Town Club employee Ricky Anthony, unascertained quantity of ornaments and valuables were taken from the Q.82 of Tata Steel employee Kartik Ram who had lost his wife Khemlata to a similar burglary on June 27.

Anthony and his family were out of town at the time of the incident. Ram's quarters have been under lock and key since his personal tragedy and he stays with relatives in Sonari.

Kadma thana OC Animesh Gupta said unknown number of burglars broke locks to the front grill of both quarters to gain entry. "We received a complaint from Anthony around 8am. During investigations, the house of Ram in the neighbourhood was also found open," he said.

OC Gupta added that they had advised Ram to vacate the quarters after Khemlata's murder, but the 55-year-old Tata Steel employee refused to let go of memories associated with their house.

"The man who killed my wife in June had taken away jewellery and Rs 10,000 in cash. I am yet to ascertain what was burgled this time," Ram said.

Anthony (35) said his family and he were out of town for four days. "We returned this (Monday) morning to find the front door open and almirah rummaged through. Besides cash and jewellery, the gang also took away fixed deposit certificates," he rued.

In Bagbera, Rs 24,000 was stolen from the cash box of a medical store on DB Road in Harharguttu. Owner Ranjit Kumar Pandey came to open his shop around 9am and found the shutter lock broken.

Bagbera thana OC J.K. Thakur said they had received a complaint, lodged an FIR and were probing the case.