Three days after 32 sovereigns of gold ornaments and ₹80,000 were stolen from a house at Companypeedika at Njarakkal in broad daylight, an eight-member special investigation team of the police arrested the accused and recovered the stolen valuables.
The arrested was identified as Haneefa aka Mattancherry Haneefa, 46, of Lobo Junction, Mattancherry, and his alleged accomplice Shajahan, 33, of Arookutty. They were taken into custody on Thursday, and their arrests were recorded on Friday morning.
According to the police, Haneefa broke into the house of one Joshy on October 28 when the latter and his family were away attending a function. He gained entry by smashing the front door using a tool. Haneefa fled with the valuables in around half an hour.
District Police Chief Rahul R. Nair (Ernakulam Rural) visited the house on the same day and immediately constituted an eight-member team comprising Njarakkal Inspector of Police A.K. Murali and Sub Inspector P.K. Mohith.
“We received CCTV footage of the accused from the locality and tracked back his way up to Mattancherry along Goshree bridges and Jhankar jetty. A person identified the accused from the visual and said he was at Mattancherry until sometime ago,” said Mr. Mohith.
The team then roped in the Cyber Cell as well who traced him to Arookutty. He was located at Aroor where he was found to be hiding in a rented building. Shajahan was arraigned in on the charge of helping the accused pledge around 8 sovereigns of the stolen ornaments.
Material evidence, including both cash and ornaments, were recovered from the accused and the firm where a portion of the ornaments were pledged.
“The accused is a hardened criminal and stands accused in two cases under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act. His audacity to break open the front door instead of the back door is an indication of his criminal background. We have passed information about him to other police stations to verify whether there were more cases in his name,” said Mr. Mohith.
The accused are likely to be produced in court on Saturday.