KOCHI: Following a swift probe spanning two states, the Kerala Police nabbed the thief who decamped with gold and diamonds worth Rs 1 crore from the house of Malayalam filmmaker Joshiy in Kochi’s Panampilly Nagar, from Udupi in Karnataka on Sunday, within 24 hours of the theft.
Suspect Mohammed Irshad, a native of Bihar, was nabbed with the stolen valuables with the help of the Karnataka Police. The officers are checking for anyone else’s involvement.
A grainy image of the suspect, captured by a CCTV camera, was all the police had as evidence when they launched the probe on Saturday morning. However, the police got a breakthrough when the visuals revealed that a vehicle registered in Maharashtra was parked near the filmmaker’s house around 3am on Saturday.
Using the latest technology, the police identified Irshad from the grainy image. An officer said Irshad is involved in several other crimes in other states, and is also on the police’s wanted list.
“Initially, despite inspecting the entire house, all we could ascertain was that the robber had entered the house through the kitchen door. There was not enough evidence to identify a suspect,” said Sudarsan K S, DCP (Law & Order).
The police then started checking whether any unusual activity was reported near the house.
“We could trace a Maharashtra-registered vehicle near the premises, and obtained a grainy CCTV image of the robber,” Sudarsan said.They started tracing the vehicle and the man seen in the visual. “We have cameras that automatically detect vehicle numbers. This helped us conclude he was escaping in the same vehicle. The vehicle was seen on camera. We issued an alert to police chiefs of five nearby states. Finally, the suspect was nabbed from Udupi with the Karnataka Police’s help,” Sudarsan said.
The police found that Irshad drove the vehicle from Mumbai to Kochi for the robbery. “We need to find out why he planned a heist in Kochi and how he was able to locate the director’s house. This will become clear once we interrogate him,” Sudarsan said. Two diamond necklaces, 10 diamond rings, eight pairs of diamond earrings, 10 gold chains, 10 gold bangles, and 10 luxury watches were stolen from the room of Joshiy’s son Abhilash. Irshad executed the daring theft while Joshiy and other family members, except Abhilash, were in the house.