In their buttoned-up Maryland suburb, lawn ornaments of any kind, let alone plastic pink flamingos, were anathema. One house down the street had a fake wishing well and that was painful enough.

In a chilling reminder of the growing menace of theft in rural pockets of Cuttack district, a series of burglaries were reported late last night from Khallipalli village of Jagannathpur Panchayat ...