The Thiruvananthapuram Rural police, on Friday, cracked within a week a case in which the perpetrators had left little for investigators to pick up as a trail.
Early on May 22, a gang, allegedly led by Shyam, 38, a native of Kattayikonam, and Babu, 33, of Murukkumpuzha, removed four offering boxes from the Sri Ramadas Ashram at Chenkottukonam, took them to an isolated plot over a kilometre away, and emptied the boxes of nearly Rs.1 lakh.
Shefeen Ahamed K., Superintendent of Police (Thiruvananthapuram Rural), said that based on the investigations by the Rural Shadow Police it was decided to keep an eye on Shyam, who was convicted twice earlier. The surveillance paid off when it came to light that he had deposited Rs.41,000 in a farmers’ cooperative bank soon after the burglary. Within a couple of days, he transferred the amount to another bank, spending around Rs.2,000 in between. He was nabbed, and during interrogation, he spilled the beans on the rest of the gang. While Babu was arrested soon after, one more member of the gang was at large, Mr. Ahamed said.
The Rural police have been quite busy after a string of burglaries. They recently cracked the Menamkulam burglary case in which a senior citizen was tied up and her house burgled of gold and valuables worth over Rs.7 lakh. A burglary in Poovar, in which 10.5 sovereigns of gold were stolen, was cracked with the arrest of Rajesh, 30, of Vattavila, and Fakir Khan, 38, of Balaramapuram, earlier this week.
The burglaries have prompted the police to intensify patrolling and vehicle-checking, Mr. Ahamed said. Security measures at Technopark had been enhanced with the posting of eight civil police officers, two senior CPOs, a sub inspector and an assistant sub inspector at the Technopark outpost. A couple of woman CPOs too would be posted there shortly, he said.
Rs.1 lakh stolen from four offering boxes.
