Bhubaneswar, May 19: Gold and silver ornaments worth Rs 2 lakh were stolen from the house of a lecturer in Ratnakarbag under Badagada police station last evening while his wife and daughter were busy collecting clothes left for drying on the roof.

The thieves struck around 5.30pm when the wife and daughter of Simanchal Das, who teaches at a private management college in the city, went to roof to collect the clothes. There was none in the house for around 10 minutes.

“My wife and daughter went to the roof without locking the door. On return, they found things lying scattered with almirahs and boxes open. The ornaments were missing,” said Das.

Later, police came to the house for spot verification. He said his wife saw a man talking to someone over phone from the road. That man was continuously looking at the roof and talking over phone, due to which she suspected that the man might be instructing someone over phone.

Das said, while he was not at home in the previous evening, two youths had come to his house and were enquiring about to-let houses in the area. “They were also enquiring about someone who neither my wife nor others in the locality knew. They were keeping track on our house. As two of the four families residing in our block had gone out on vacation, they targeted our house,” said Das, adding that his neighbour had seen a black tall man coming out of his house with a bag in his hand during that time.

Das today lodged a complaint with the Badagada police who registered a case and started investigation.

“We have got the complaint and are investigating into the matter. The thieves would be arrested soon,” said a police officer.