CHENNAI: A 55-year-old woman was arrested by Valasaravakkam police on Friday for staging a robbery. The suspect allegedly pawned her daughter’s 25 sovereigns of gold and lost the money in online rummy. She staged the robbery to keep her daughter in the dark about the loss.
Police sources identified the suspect as Shanthi. She worked as a cook in the locality and resided with her daughter Santhanalakshmi (28) and son-in-law Sivamurugan (30) at Karapakkam near Porur.
Early Friday morning, when Sivamurgan came out of his room, he found Shanthi lying on the floor of her room. She was gagged and her hands and legs were tied.
“She was hospitalised and the police were alerted. The family told the police that an unidentified gang broke into their house and stole 25 sovereigns. They also claimed that the gang sprayed a sedative on Shanthi before tying her up. However, CCTV footage showed no one entering the house and there was no sign of forced entry. Growing suspicious, they checked the house and found receipts of pledged gold jewellery,” a source said.
Perusal of Shanthi’s call records showed that she regularly spoke to a pawn shop owner. Upon inquiry, the shop owner said that the woman had pawned 25 sovereigns with him. Upon further interrogation at the hospital, Shanthi allegedly confessed to the staged robbery,” a police officer said. She will be taken into custody after her discharge from the hospital.