Jewellery weighing 100 sovereigns and worth Rs.15 lakh was stolen from a passenger who was travelling in the Chennai-bound West Coast Express from Mangalore, on Thursday.
Prabhu of Karikaliamman Koil Street in Pollachi, a gold merchant, was in the business of receiving orders from clients in Kerala and Mangalore. Bala Shanmugam (54) was working at Prabhu's office and used to deliver the gold jewellery to the clients.
On Wednesday, Bala Shanmugam and other co-workers Balaji and Saravanan met their clients in Udupi and were returning to Coimbatore with the gold jewellery. The three boarded the train at Mangalore. Bala Shanmugam had used the suitcase containing the jewellery as a pillow to sleep during the night journey.
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On Thursday morning, when Bala Shanmugam woke up after the train crossed Palakkad Junction, he realised that the suitcase was missing. On arrival at the Coimbatore Railway Junction, he informed the railway police about the disappearance of the jewellery.
Since the incident had occurred under Palakkad jurisdiction, the case was transferred to the Palakkad railway police who in turn registered a case.