The District Crime Branch (DCB) of the Coimbatore District Police on Friday arrested three employees of a jewellery showroom on charges of stealing gold ornaments worth over ₹7 crore in a period of about 17 months.
DCB officials said K. Vignesh (35) of Kittampalayam near Pollachi, T. Alagarasan alias Deva (27) of Kaveripuram in Salem district and V. Sundarraj (57) of Jothi Nagar at Pollachi were arrested for stealing around 13 kg of gold belonging to Lakshmi Jewellery, Pollachi.
The disappearance of gold came to light when the jewellery group conducted an audit on September 5, 2023. It was initially suspected that 228 gram ornaments were missing.
The jewellery’s owner questioned showroom manager Vignesh who admitted stealing 750 grams of ornaments. During further check, it was found that Alagarasan, a software engineer who had been handling the barcoding of jewellery’s ornaments, and cashier Sundarraj were also involved. The owner lodged a complaint with the DCB on Thursday against the three employees.
The investigation by DCB revealed that Alagarasan was handling barcoding of ornaments for two showrooms at Pollachi and one at Udumalpet. The three employees took away a total of 13 kg of ornaments worth ₹7 crore from the company’s stock between April 1, 2022 and September 5, 2023. Alagarasan removed details of the stolen ornaments from the software used by the jewellery, said DCB officials.
The investigators also found that the accused bought a total of 3.15 acres of land at Nadupuni, Panickampatti and Jothi Nagar near Pollachi using the money they made out of the stolen jewellery. Alagarasan started a garment store at Kolathur in Salem district, besides buying a new car.
