The special investigation team of the Ernakulam Rural police probing the theft of 300 grams of gold and ₹1.8 lakh from the house of a goldsmith in Aluva by a four-member gang in the guise of Income Tax officials last month made one more arrest in the case.
The arrested is Suhara, 37, of Koothaparambu in Kannur. Her husband, Harris, is another accused in the case and is on the run. She is accused of being part of hatching the conspiracy behind the theft and later helping the accused go into hiding. So far, the police have arrested five persons in the case, including three from Goa.
The theft took place in broad daylight at the house of one Sanjay on June 5. Sanjay, originally from Maharashtra but settled here for more than three decades, sought the identity documents of the accused on which they flashed their ID cards on their mobile phones. They claimed that the ‘raid’ was in the wake of a ‘tip-off’ about illegal gold trade.
The accused also seized the mobile phones of members of the family and made them sit in the drawing room as they rummaged through the house for around one-and-a-half hours. They said they were taking into custody 200 grams of gold and gold ornaments of nearly 100 grams worn by the family members. Besides, they also took away ₹1.80 lakh, bank passbooks, pan card, and other documents.
As a ruse to convince Sanjay, they gave a written statement about the ‘seizures’ and told that they could collect them from the Income Tax office on Monday. He, however, realised that he was taken for a ride when he rung up the mobile number given to him only to be answered by a headload worker.
Since the accused had also taken away the DVR of the CCTV, the police had to access CCTV footage from nearby shops. The four were found to be dressed convincingly as Income Tax sleuths.
