DHARMAPURI: The father of the prime accused in Jos Alukkas jewellery shop heist in Coimbatore died by suicide on Wednesday at Devareddiyur in Dharmapuri. According to police, M Munirathinam was a labourer residing in Devareddiyur village near Kambainallur. His son M Vijay (25) is one of the prime accused in the theft of over 1 kg of gold jewellery.
While police were on the lookout for Vijay, in the late hours of Tuesday he had come to Devareddiyur and met his father at their house. On Wednesday, Munirathinam handed over another 33 grams of gold and two mobile phones to the Kambainallur police who in turn handed the jewellery to the Coimbatore special team.
Shortly after returning home, the special team of police took Munirathinam for investigation and released him later on the day. Around 9.30 pm, Munirathinam died by suicide. The Kambainallur police sent the body to the Dharmapuri Medical College Hospital for postmortem.
(Assistance for those having suicidal thoughts is available on TN’s health helpline 104 and Sneha’s suicide prevention helpline 044-24640050)