Police arrested two men on Wednesday for stealing 32 sovereigns of gold jewellery from a house in Neelankarai in January.
According to police, one of the men, Sivasubramanian (32) was a used car salesman. His main job was to buy and sell used cars. In January, Sumithra, a resident of Karpaga Vinayagar Nagar in Vettuvankeni near Neelankarai got in touch with him, as she wanted to buy a car.
Initially, the two discussed the sale over the phone, after which Sivasubramanian went to Sumithra’s home. Over the course of a few weeks, he went to her home around 10 times and became friendly with the family.
“Sivasubramanian noticed that Sumithra was not wearing any jewellery and asked her why. She told him that all her jewellery was locked up in a suitcase that was kept at her home,” said Pushparaj, inspector (crime), Neelankarai.
Sivasubramanian, who was in need of money, decided to steal the jewellery. He got together with a friend, Venkatesan, a resident of Palavakkam. “During the next visit to Sumithra’s house, Sivasubramanian stole the house key and replaced it with a duplicate. Sumithra was unaware of this,” said Pushparaj.
Sivasubramanian knew Sumithra used to drop and pick her child up from school every day. One day, when there was no one at home, Venkatesan broke in and stole the jewellery, following which both the men fled.
Upon finding the suitcase missing, Sumithra lodged a police complaint.
An investigation by the police revealed that there was no forced entry. The police then interrogated Sumithra, and suspicion fell on Sivasubramanian. “We nabbed him on Wednesday and he confessed to the crime. With the information provided by him, we managed to find Venkatesan too,” said Pushparaj.
