Thiruvananthapuram: ‘Stolen’ gold found in victim’s house

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The gold ornaments which were suspected to have been stolen from the house of Manorama (68), who was murdered by a migrant labourer at Kesavadasapuram on August 7, were found in the house itself on Tuesday.
The family members of Manorama alerted the police about finding the gold.
Police had earlier suspected that the accused, Adam Ali (21), a native of West Bengal, murdered Manorama to steal the gold ornaments. With ornaments being not found anywhere during the search in the past one week and Ali being reticent, police had hinted at the family members to look for ornaments in the house.
It was found in a bag containing tablet strips.
Respecting the emotional state of the family, police had not done an intensive search in the house and waited for the family to do the search themselves.
Earlier, cash worth Rs 50,000 was reported stolen a day after the murder. However, the cash was also found in the house. Police estimate that the gold ornaments weighed 65g.
The investigating officials said that Ali was questioned for around 70 hours in different sessions and they had reasons to suspect that theft was his primary motive and when that didn’t materialize, he murdered Manorama.
Police said Ali knew that Manorama was alone in the house and he may have planned to make away with some gold and cash. When Manorama resisted, it may have led to murder, the police said.