COIMBATORE

Three days after the robbery of 803.8 sovereign of jewellery worth ₹ 2.27 crore from Ramanathapuram branch of Muthoottu Mini Financiers Limited in Coimbatore, special teams of City Police arrested an employee of the branch and her friend on Tuesday.

The robber, A. Suresh (32) of Sathyamangalam, had colluded with the employee of the branch J. Renukadevi (40) of Podanur for the robbery to pay off his debts, said the police.

The police recovered 597 sovereign of the stolen jewellery, which Suresh had melted into bars, from his paternal house at Sathyamangalam. Of the ₹ 1.34 lakh taken away from the finance firm, the police recovered ₹ 1 lakh.

Suresh was arrested by the police from his residence at Kempatty Colony in Coimbatore based on scientific evidences, including the calls he had made to the mobile of Renukadevi. They had become friends while working in a company earlier.

According to P. Perumal, Deputy Commissioner of Police, the police suspected the collusion of Renukadavi in the robbery as CCTV visuals showed her exiting the office at 2.30 p.m. on Saturday and returning after 20 minutes. The robber entered the office a few minutes later. Also two doors of the strongroom were reportedly kept open.

However, the police did not interrogate Renukadevi, who had sought treatment at a hospital after the incident, to give an impression that police were not suspecting her. A ‘false news’ was also created that police team had headed to Kerala in search of the accused following which the original accused did not abscond. However, the police had collected scientific evidences proving her link with Suresh and traced him to Kempatty Colony where he lived with his wife.

Suresh confessed to the police that he had lost money in share market and had debts which made him to plot the robbery. Another employee of the finance firm named M. Dhiva, who was beaten up and swooned by Suresh, did not have knowledge of the plot.

The accused had headed towards Podanur after the robbery in an attempt to divert the attention of the police. “He then changed his dresses before heading to Sathyamangalam where the jewellery were melted. Though his father is a goldsmith, he is aged and was unaware of the jewellery,” said an officer from one of the investigating team.

As the accused melted the jewellery, the police added Section 201 (Causing disappearance of evidence of offence) of the IPC to the FIR which was earlier registered under Section 392 (Punishment for robbery) of the IPC. The two accused were remanded late on Tuesday.