A family from Nagpur who have come to the city to attend a wedding has alleged that cash and jewellery worth Rs 25 lakh were stolen from one of the 28 rooms they had booked at Novotel, New Town, while they were away on Thursday evening.

Police sources said CCTV footage of the 10th-floor lobby and the ground floor showed a man dressed in a half-sleeved shirt and a pair of trousers walking into room 1009 (on the 10th floor), coming out after four minutes with something wrapped in a handkerchief, heading for the lift and walking out of the premises.

Police were unable to identify the man till late on Friday. They suspect at least one hotel employee was hand in glove with the thief.

The hotel rooms have electronic door locks, which can be unlocked when a card issued to the occupant is pressed against the door sensor. Ghasiram Malu, 57, and wife Vimla, who had checked into the room around 3pm on Thursday, were given two cards. Hotel records, however, show the room was opened with a third card, which was issued after the family had checked in.

"It looks like the offender knew where the valuables had been kept. The fact that he had a card also suggests that someone from the hotel had helped him. We are interrogating the hotel employees who were on duty on Thursday afternoon and evening and are checking the CCTV footage," said K.K. Barui, deputy commissioner, detective department, Bidhannagar commissionerate.

Room 1009 was among the 28 rooms booked by the family of Aditya Kasat, who owns a marble company. Malu is Kasat's father-in-law. The group had come to attend the wedding of Kasat's younger brother, to be held on Saturday at a venue on VIP Road.

The guests had left the hotel around 6.45pm on Thursday to attend a programme organised by the Kasats at the wedding venue. Malu and his wife returned to their room around 11pm and found two of their suitcases open. A bundle of Rs 1,000 notes kept in one of them and gold and diamond ornaments kept in another were missing.

"We ran downstairs and alerted the duty manager. He said he could not ascertain that we were telling the truth and refused to call any of his seniors. He even refused to give us the contact details of the nearest police station," Malu said.

When contacted, the hotel authorities initially refused to comment. Later they mailed a statement: "An unfortunate incident of theft was reported by a guest and his family.... Our priority is to assist the guest and to cooperate with the police in the proper investigation of this matter...."