A jeweller’s house and his showroom were burgled and about 3.50 kgs of gold ornaments worth ₹ 1.32 crore were stolen on Monday night.
The police said the burglar, who burgled jeweller Pon Vijay’s house at Madaththuvilai Viricode under Marthandam police station limits by breaking the door in the first floor, went to the puja room in the ground floor, where the jeweller had kept 65 sovereigns of gold ornaments and ₹ 2 lakh in cash. After taking the valuables from the puja room when everyone was sleeping in the ground floor, the burglar took keys of the jeweller’s showroom in Marthandam and went to the shop where he stole gold ornaments weighing 3 kg.
The crime came to light on Tuesday morning when Mr. Pon Vijay found jewels and cash kept in the puja room missing after seeing the broken door in the first floor. As the jewellery showroom keys were also missing from the puja room, he rushed to the showroom to find theft of jewels worth ₹ 1.13 crore in the shop.
The police rushed to the jewellery showroom with fingerprint experts and sniffer dog. When CCTV footages were analysed, a youth was seen stealing the valuables wearing raincoat with his head covered. Superintendent of Police N. Shreenath, who visited the burgled house and the shop, said the culprit should be known to the shop owner in some way.
“Besides installing CCTV cameras in shops, especially in jewellery showrooms, owners of shops should link cameras with their mobile phones through suitable app so that they will get instant alerts in case of any burglary in their showrooms. It will enable them to alert the police soon,” Mr. Shreenath said. Marthandam police, who are still grappling with another burglary in a jewellery showroom in December last, have registered a case in this connection.
