CHENNAI: A lawyer and his wife have come under police scrutiny after it was found that they had allegedly lodged a fake complaint against an elderly house owner that he had stolen 87 sovereign gold.
On September 19, Ramakrishnan* (name changed) lodged a complaint at Saidapet police station stating he was out of town for two days when his wife and son were alone in the house.
“On Friday, when the lawyer returned he found 87 sovereign gold missing from the cupboard. When he enquired with his wife Priya (name changed) it was found that an unknown man had gained entry into the house when she was alone. On Thursday, around 7 pm an unidentified man, claiming to be a sorcerer, visited their house. He had claimed there was some evil spirit in the house and performed a ritual,” said police quoting the original complaint filed by the lawyer.
The complaint claimed that after the ritual she could not remember what happened. Later, when she woke up in the morning she found the gold missing and found a few empty boxes behind the kitchen.
“The couple lodged a complaint against the unidentified sorcerer and their house owner since they had made frequent visits. Ever since the complaint was lodged, the house owner was also missing. As we found it suspicious, we did not register an FIR,” said an investigation officer.
“We scanned CCTV footage of the two-storey apartment complex and found that no one visited the family last week. We also found that the house owner had gone to visit his son a week ago.
Since the needle of suspicion fell on the lawyer and his family, we took them for enquiry and they were adamant that their jewels were stolen. On further grilling, their son spilled the beans that his mother had mortgaged 74 sovereigns of gold at a company for Rs 14 lakh and the remaining 13 sovereign she had sold for Rs 4 lakh,” said a police officer.
Their son told police that Priya did not inform her husband about it and she had registered a house with the money.
“Priya claimed to have done this because they lived in a rented house and wanted to own a house for which Ramakrishnan refused,” said the officer.
Saidapet police said they suspect the role of Ramakrishnan as well. “Realising that they were caught red-handed Ramakrishnan left the city on Saturday and did not turn up for enquiry while his wife got admitted at a private hospital claiming she suffered a heart attack,” the officer said.
“The duo are not cooperating in the case and we will file an FIR against them for lodging a fake complaint and unnecessarily trying to defame their house owner,” said P Pakalavan, DCP. Saidapet police are likely to register a case on Monday.