The police on Tuesday arrested four persons, including an ex-serviceman, on the charge of theft of cash and ornaments from an apartment in Surathkal in August this year.
Police Commissioner Vikash Kumar Vikash gave the names of the accused as Naveen, Raghu, Amesh and Santosh.
Mr. Vikash told reporters that ex-serviceman Naveen owned a flat in Jardin Apartment Complex at Idya Surathkal. He was also the secretary of the apartment owners association.
He said that the husband of Vidya Prabhu, owner of Vidyaganesh Petrol Bunk, had a flat in the apartment complex but it was uninhabited. As her husband had passed away, Ms. Prabhu did not visit the flat very often.
On August 17, Ms. Prabhu complained stating that ₹ 51 lakh in cash and 224 grams of gold ornaments had been stolen from her flat by a gang of persons that had gained entry from the balcony. Investigation revealed the involvement of Naveen, who also worked as manager in a wine shop.
“He had noticed that Ms. Prabhu seldom visited the flat and conspired with the other accused to steal the articles from the flat,” Mr. Vikash said.
While Raghu and Amesh were from Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala, Santosh, a native of Belthangady, worked in the wine shop where Naveen was the manager. “We have launched a search for two more persons involved in the theft,” he said.
The police recovered all the gold ornaments that had been stolen, while they could recover only ₹ 30.85 lakh of the stolen cash from the accused. The police also recovered a car and a two-wheeler used by the accused in the crime.
Ms. Prabhu, he said, was yet to explain the presence of the large amount of cash in the flat. The amount appeared to be related to transactions carried out in the petrol bunk, the Police Commissioner said.
