The city police on Thursday arrested a father-son duo on the charge of stealing gold and silver ornaments and cash from the Karakachettu Polamamba temple, on March 20.
The accused were identified as P. Umesh (43) and P. Dhiraj (19). Another son of Umesh, a 16-year-old, was also taken into custody by the police for his involvement in the crime. All three hail from Chittoor district and are presently residents of Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu.
Addressing a press conference here on Thursday, Commissioner of Police Manish Kumar Sinha said that the police received information on March 21 that unidentified miscreants had gained entry into the temple and fled with valuables. The accused also decamped with the video storage devices to erase evidence of the crime. Police formed five teams to investigate the case.
Painstaking probe
According to the Commissioner, when the CLUES team inspected the spot, they collected evidence of footprints, fingerprints, cables and a sharp object, which was used to break something during the theft.
“We suspected that the equipment might have been purchased in the city. Taking that as a clue, we enquired about it at all the hardware stores in the city,” said Mr. Manish Kumar.
“On March 22, we were able to ascertain that a shop at Poorna Market had sold the equipment to the trio. Fortunately, the shop was equipped with CCTV cameras, and we obtained footage of the trio buying the equipment from the shop,” the Commissioner said.
“CCTV footage from the shop enabled us to correlate with the footage from CCTVs intalled at various locations in the city, and we could see them boarding an auto-rickshaw to reach the shop. As the number plate of the auto-rickshaw was not clearly visible, we zeroed in on the driver through a painstaking physical check.”
“The auto-rickshaw driver, a 60-year old man, informed us that the accused persons boarded his vehicle on KGH road. After checking the hotels and lodges in the vicinity, we learnt that they stayed in a lodge near Jagadamba Junction. When we checked the lodge register, more clues were unearthed,” the CP said.
How the theft was planned
Mr. Manish Kumar told reporters that Umesh sells garments on the beach in Kanyakumari, while Dhiraj works as a cook in Tirupati. Dhiraj slowly became acquainted with drug peddlers and planned to smuggle ganja from Visakhapatnam district. On February 26, 2021, he was arrested by the Payakaraopeta police while trying to smuggle the contraband.
On March 16, Umesh and his younger son had come to Visakhapatnam to consult a lawyer for getting Dhiraj released on bail. The duo stayed at a lodge near Jagadamba and in the meantime, they visited Karakachettu Polamamba temple. Umesh then conducted a recce of the temple and planned the theft. On March 19, Dhiraj got bail and on March 20, the trio vacated the lodge. On the same night, the accused committed the theft at the temple and fled the city.
Acting on a tip-off, the police nabbed the accused from an undisclosed location. The police recovered 248 grams of gold and silver ornaments and some cash from them.
Police also found that the accused had buried the video devices at an isolated place about 300 to 400 metres from the temple.
“In the course of the investigation, we found out that the accused had committed several thefts in Kanyakumari during the lockdown, but was caught only for the first crime,” he said.
