Rice & essentials vanish from villages in Kerala

IMAGINE returning home after a long day only to find your house invaded. However, instead of money or jewellery or appliances, the thief has decamped with your rice and other food items!

- JAISON WILSON @Pathanamthitta

This "grocery heist" has been unsettling the villages of Seethathode panchayat in Pathanamthitta bordering the forests of Sabarimala and the Periyar Tiger Reserve.

The mysterious thefts of cooked food and edible items have been a regular affair in Angamoozhi, Valooppara, Kochu Koikkal and Gurunathan Mannu during the monsoon season for the last two years, says panchayat president P R Pramod. This year, a little over a week since the May 24 monsoon onset, one theft has been reported.