Sahu’s house. Picture by Ashwinee Pati

Bhubaneswar, Nov. 10: Gold ornaments weighing around 60 grams and cash worth Rs 4.2 lakh were robbed from a house at Nayapalli this morning.

Two robbers armed with chloroform spray entered the house of Ramesh Chandra Sahu, a surgeon, and his tax lawyer brother Umesh Chandra Sahu around 10.15am when most of the family members were away.

Only Ramesh’s wife, Archana, 45, and his ailing mother were present in the house when they knocked on the door.

“When the two youths, aged around 25 years, rang the bell, my sister-in-law opened the door. They told her that they wanted to meet me regarding some official work. She informed them that I was not at home and was about to close the door when one of them sprayed something on her face and she became unconscious,” said Umesh.

The criminals then tied her hands and feet with a rope and gagged her with a towel.

Archana’s ailing mother-in-law, who is in her 70s, was sleeping in another room when the incident took place. She had no idea what was happening in the house.

While Umesh and his wife Madhusmita had gone to Khandagiri to pick up their daughter from school, Ramesh was on his way to Dhenkanal where he had some work at the district headquarters hospital.

The goons then broke the almirahs and took away gold ornaments and cash.

They also ransacked the house looking for other valuable items.

The incident came to light after Umesh and his wife returned home after picking up their daughter from school.

“We found Archana lying unconscious with her hands and legs tied with a rope. The cash they took was meant for the construction of the first floor of our house,” said Umesh, who lives with his brother’s family on the ground floor.

Two carpenters were working on the first floor of the building when the incident took place. However, they had no clue about what happened.

“We have detained a plumber and a carpenter who specialise in aluminum fittings. Both were absent when the robbers struck. They are being interrogated,” said Suryamani Pradhan, inspector in charge of Nayapalli police station.