In the first week of January, the telephone at the Kuruppampady police station rang relentlessly, breaking the routine calm of the day. When officers responded, a man from the Karthavumpady area reported a burglary at a locked house, where the intruder, finding no valuables, had made away with the CCTV camera installed on the premises.
Even before the details of the complaint could fully sink in, another call followed — this time from neighbouring Pulluvazhy, reporting a similar break-in. In that incident, a gold ring weighing three sovereigns had been stolen from an almirah inside a locked house.
The striking similarities in the two burglaries, both carried out in locked houses within nearby localities, led the police to suspect the hand of a single offender.
An informal probe soon gave way to a full-fledged investigation after formal complaints were lodged. Acting on the developments, Ernakulam Rural District Police Chief M Hemalatha constituted a special investigation team led by Inspector Stepto John of Kuruppampady Police Station.
The trail eventually led the police to Noushad (45), a resident of Thandekkad in Perumbavoor, originally hailing from Muvattupuzha, who was arrested in connection with the thefts.
According to an officer with the probe team, the thefts took place in the Karthavumpadi and Pulluvazhy areas of Kuruppampady. CCTV footage from nearby locations revealed a suspect riding a scooter in both areas around the time of the burglaries. The registration number led to a resident of Muvattupuzha. But the scooter had been stolen, and a complaint was registered some days earlier.
“We tracked the scooter thief, who was likely the same person involved in the burglaries. We then intensified the investigation using scientific methods, including forensic clues from the crime scenes, information gathered from residents, and analysis of mobile phone signals. These efforts helped us arrest the accused within five days of the thefts,” says the officer.
Noushad had been running a spare parts shop in the Ernakulam district and was leading a relatively peaceful family life with his wife and children.
However, he allegedly developed an addiction to playing cards and suffered heavy losses while gambling at a casino in Goa, pushing him into deep debt. As the consequences mounted, he gradually lost almost everything he owned.
During this period, some acquaintances he met in Goa allegedly persuaded him to turn to burglaries as a quick way to clear his debts. Though initially fearful of the repercussions, he was reassured that break-ins at unoccupied houses during late hours would go largely unnoticed.
Encouraged by the fact that his initial thefts, including the scooter theft, went undetected, he gained confidence and went on to commit more burglaries. He later used the stolen scooter to move around and carry out the crimes.
“During interrogation, Noushad confessed to committing as many as 11 thefts, targeting gold ornaments and cash. One of the incidents also involved an attempted break-in at the house of a judge who hails from Kollam,” says Stepto.
The moolah was allegedly used for gambling and to fund a lavish lifestyle, including repeated trips to Goa. The police suspect his involvement in more burglaries and are continuing the investigation.
The officer adds that the probe team is not fully convinced by all the disclosures made by the accused and is planning a detailed interrogation.