MADURAI: Jewels worth crores of rupees were looted from a newly opened Tanishq jewellery outlet of the Tata group on Bypass Road in Madurai city in the early hours of Thursday.
According to Madurai city police, the incident is believed to have taken place around 3 am. It came to light around 10 am when the staff opened the first floor and found that gold and diamond jewels worth crores were missing, while a lot more jewels had been left untouched by the miscreant.
It is suspected that a masked miscreant accessed the top of the building using scaffolding at the back of the building, as the four-storey structure, including the floor where the crime occurred, is still under construction. However, the jewellery outlet had recently opened and remained operational until Wednesday.
After reaching the top, the miscreant reportedly entered the first floor by climbing down the lift shaft. He then stole the jewellery and escaped using the same route before fleeing on foot through two streets. The police are yet to ascertain whether anyone else was involved in the crime.
The official details of the missing jewels are yet to be released, but police estimate it to be at least 10-15 kg, as the recently assessed stock of jewels is around 30 kg. Since the miscreant had not taken all the jewels from the shop, the staff were engaged in assessing the jewels till 2 pm. Except for the first floor where the crime happened, no jewels are kept on the other two floors of the shop.
City Commissioner S Rajendiran visited the spot and formed special teams under DCP South AG Inigo Divyan to identify the miscreants and recover the jewels. The police have also taken the list of employees and construction workers to find out whether anyone had a role in the theft.