The city police on Monday arrested a person on charge of stealing 24 tolas of gold ornaments and ₹4.59 lakh in cash from a house of an elderly couple.
The accused has been identified as Kurri Naga Venkata Satyanarayana, a resident of Kancharapalem, who is working as a driver of the houseowner, Peri Gopalakrishna.
“The accused has been working as a driver in the house of Mr. Gopalakrishna for last three months. Believing in Satyanarayana, the elderly couple gave him access to their house,” DCP (Zone-II) Uday Bhaskar told the media here.
The accused noticed that the couple had kept money and gold in the house. In the first week of January, Satyanarayana allegedly collected the key of the iron safe and made good with the valuables while the couple were asleep. After the incident, he never reported to his duty, fearing that he might be caught, said the DCP.
According to ACP (crime) Ch. Pentarao, the accused, before committing the crime, had burnt the CCTV wire in the apartment where the couple were living.
However, the CCTV footage provided the clue to the police.
‘Ring provided the clue’
“While examining the CCTV footage, we could see a pair of hands burning the CCTV wires. We were able to identify the accused by the ring that he wore,” said Mr. Pentarao.
The special team comprising ADCP (crime) V. Suresh Babu and west sub-division (crimes) inspector B. Srinivasa Rao and SI A. Manmadha Rao arrested the accused from S. Kota on Monday.
The police recovered 21 tolas of gold and ₹4.49 lakh in cash, all worth ₹10.49 lakh from the possession of the accused. DCP Uday Bhaskar gave away cash awards to the probe team for cracking the case. He cautioned people to check the antecedents of people before employing them as house maids and drivers.
