VELLORE: A 55-year-old hotel owner from Mettukulam, located near Katpadi in the Vellore district, was the victim of a burglary when thieves broke into his home and stole 40 sovereigns of gold jewelry. The police have arrested seven men in connection with the crime and have recovered 33 sovereigns of gold and 700 grams of silver.
The victim, Raja, who operates a hotel on Siddhar Pradhana Salai, had travelled to Chennai with his family early on Tuesday to attend a function at a relative's house. Upon their return late that night, the family was shocked to discover that the back door had been forced open and jewellery was missing from a bureau.
Raja immediately filed a complaint at the Katpadi police station. Forensic experts collected fingerprints from the scene, and police formed a special team to investigate the case.
Vellore SP Mathivanan said, "We launched a multi-pronged investigation, including scanning over 50 CCTV footage,"
The police first arrested Venkatesh (36) from Tiruvannamalai. Further interrogation revealed six additional accomplices: Saravanan (24) from Karumandurai (Salem), Bharathi (34) from Arani, Thiagarajan (35) from Senpakkam (Vellore), Sathish (30) and Gopi (39) from Keelandur (Tiruvannamalai), and Pushparaj (27) from Salem.
The accused were regular customers at Raja's hotel. Knowing that the family would be away, they attempted to commit the theft but failed. Later, they purchased tools to break open the door and successfully executed the robbery.
More than 50 police personnel, including DSPs Thirunavukkarasu and Palani and Sub-Inspector Manikandan, worked on the case. The police apprehended the culprits within six days and recovered most of the stolen jewellery from the accused. Further investigations are ongoing.