The police on Monday arrested a former senior superintendent of the District Collectorate for allegedly stealing gold and other valuables from the court of the Sub-Divisional Magistrate (Revenue Divisional Officer).
The Peroorkada police nabbed the accused, Sreekantan Nair, 56, of Maruthoorkonam in Kottukal from his house during the early hours of the day. The action has come nearly a month after the police had commenced the probe on the basis of a complaint by the District Sub-Collector.
An application seeking the return of the ornaments worn by a Murukkumpuzha native who died in 2011 by her next-of-kin had led to the detection of the theft of nearly 105 sovereigns of gold, 146 g of silver and cash amounting to ₹47,500. The loss was found in the court chest that stored mainours recovered between 2007 and 2020 in connection with unnatural deaths.
According to City Police Commissioner G. Sparjan Kumar, the accused was the custodian of the chest key for nine months from March 2020. He apparently exploited the low attendance that was recorded in the office during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic to purportedly execute the theft. The former official, who retired from service a few months ago, had also planted rolled gold articles in place of the stolen valuables before handing over the chest key to his successor.
The police took the accused to various places, including Neyyattinkara, Balaramapuram, Vizhinjam and the District Collectorate, to collect evidence. The investigation team managed to recover 93 g of gold that the accused had allegedly sold at a jewellery outlet in Balaramapuram.
Sreekantan is suspected to have pawned the gold in financial institutions in Mangalathukonam and Neyyattinkara. He also sold a portion in Poovar.
Large quantities of gold that he had pawned in financial institutions were apparently auctioned after he defaulted on loan repayment. The arrest is believed to have been delayed for the police to identify those who bought the ornaments at the auctions.
Peroorkada inspector Azad Abdul Kalam said the accused has been booked under various charges, including Section 409 (criminal breach of trust by public servant), 420 (cheating and dishonesty including delivery of property) and 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of an offence committed) of the Indian Penal Code. He added that there was no evidence to suggest Sreekantan was assisted by an accomplice in the crime.
During questioning, the accused told the officers that financial hardships had driven him to steal the ornaments that were in his sole custody before he handed over the responsibility to someone else.
