india

Updated: Feb 19, 2020 21:06 IST

A burglar in Kerala’s Kochi abandoned a robbery after realising that the house he had broken into belonged to an Indian Army personnel. He wrote an apology on the wall of the house and left but couldn’t resist the temptation of tasting the liquor he found at the residence.

The incident took place in Tripunithura on Tuesday night when the occupants of the house were visiting a relative. The abandoned robbery bid was discovered by the housemaid, who was welcomed on Wednesday morning by the long apology--also including the bit about alcohol tasting-- adorning a wall.

The dazed police said they were initially tempted to believe only one person was involved since the apology was written in the ‘singular’ person but feel more people were behind it.

“I broke the Seventh Commandant of the Bible. I had no idea it was the house of a soldier. I realised this when I saw the uniform and cap. Kindly forgive me officer,” the apology written with a marker in Malayalam read.

He also wrote that the bag he had earlier stolen from a nearby shop had some documents and it should be handed over to the owner without any fail. The owner said Rs 10,000 was missing from the bag. Later police found at least four shops and houses in the area had been robbed the same night.

The police believe the display of ‘patriotism’ could be well planned to throw the police off from what could be the handiwork of a group of robbers.

Later senior police officials and forensic experts who visited the site said the handwriting could help in nabbing the culprits.