Bhopal: Every morning, Sweetu would be waiting outside the gate, tail wagging, ready to greet her family. But she wasn’t there Saturday morning, bludgeoned to death by thieves for thwarting a theft in a Satna home.
The eight-year-old Pomeranian, a beloved member of the Yadav family, was found dead hours after she allegedly confronted the gang trying to break into the house. The intruders fled without stealing anything. For her family, Sweetu did not die as a pet. She died as a hero protecting her home.
In the silence of Friday night, while the family slept inside their house in Satna’s Prem Vihar locality, Sweetu was the first to sense danger. According to neighbours, she barked continuously after noticing suspicious movement near the rear side of the house, apparently trying to alert those inside.
“There were injuries on her leg, waist and neck. There were also strangulation marks. But the thieves could not succeed in executing the theft. Even after being such a small, homely breed, she laid down her life for us,” said 46-year-old Nitin Yadav, struggling to hold back tears.
CCTV cameras installed at the rear side of the house had not been functioning for the past few days. However, footage from cameras at the front showed Sweetu around 12.12am. Moments later, she appeared to run towards the rear side after hearing unusual sounds. What happened after that can only be pieced together from the evidence she left behind. “She was probably overpowered,” Yadav said.
Inside the house, the family remained unaware of the struggle unfolding outside. It was only at daybreak that something felt wrong. “Normally she would wait for us outside the gate every morning. When I could not find her, I went searching and saw she was no more,” Yadav said.
The grief in the household deepened with one heartbreaking thought that Yadav has been unable to shake off. “For me, the biggest regret is that Sweetu must have been thinking I would come to save her … but I was not there when she needed me the most,” he said.
As police scan CCTV footage from nearby areas to identify the accused, the Yadav family is mourning the loss of the smallest member of their home -- a tiny dog whose courage far outweighed her size.
