Beware, the police helpline is of no help. An elderly couple in Ballygunge learnt this the hard way in a night of need.

Just after midnight, about a fortnight ago, Ashok and Sabitri Das were woken up by some sounds outside their house in Madhab Deb Lane. They spotted two youths scaling the boundary wall.

Ashok Das, 70, made a dash for the phone and dialled 100 for help. After all, the catchline for Dial 100, a brainchild of Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, is: “Call police — not just law-enforcers, but friends in need”. But that night, there was no friend in deed. The phone at Lalbazar just went on ringing. Das kept trying, to no avail.

By the time the senior citizen realised that Lalbazar had let him down, the two goons — clad in T shirts and Bermudas — had entered the house. They forced the couple to hand over the keys to the almirah and grabbed Rs 18,000 in cash and two gold chains worth Rs 25,000.

Metro visited 16C Madhab Deb Lane, near Maddox Square, but found it under lock and key. Neighbours said the couple had shifted to a relative’s house after the burglary. “They were terrified after the incident. We had gone with them to Ballygunge police station the next day. After that, they left home,” said neighbour Meena Devi.

“Yes, the couple had submitted a written complaint and also told us that they had tried the emergency number several times but did not get any response. We had asked them to lodge a complaint about this with senior officers at Lalbazar,” said an officer of Ballygunge police station.

Why was there no help at the other end of the helpline that night? A preliminary probe revealed that sergeant Partha Sarathi Pal was on duty that night. This was, allegedly, not the first complaint against the sergeant. “I have received a complaint against Pal. He has been accused of not responding to calls in the control room. An investigation is on,” Vineet Goyal, the deputy commissioner of police (headquarters), told Metro.

A cop who has manned the helpline blamed the “occasional laxity” on a “flood of crank calls” through the night.