THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The investigation into the robbery in cine actor Iniya’s house took a dramatic turn with the police arresting her sister’s fiance and an accomplice on Saturday.
The arrested have been identified as Iniya’s sister and serial actor Swathi’s fiance Shebin, 32, of Bismi House, MRA-241, Pattoor, and his friend Saji, 45, of House no 74, Chithira Nagar, Valiyathura.
Shebin and Swathi had got engaged a few weeks ago.
The police are searching for Rajan hailing from Valiyathura who had stolen around Rs 6 lakh from the house.
According to the police, the theft occurred between 9.15 pm and 12.15 am on June 5 when Iniya and her family had gone out for a movie.
Shebin, along with a friend, had also accompanied them.
“The motivation for the crime was to fund Shebin’s luxurious lifestyle. He also had a feeling that his fiance’s family looked upon him as an inferior,” Fort Assistant Commissioner R Sreekumar said.
“Shebin and Rajan had planned the crime sometime before. He had secured the front door key from Swathi’s car and made a duplicate with the help of Rajan,” the official said.
“As planned earlier, Shebin went along with the family to avoid suspicion and frequently contacted Rajan to get updates.
Though Shebin directed him to steal the cash and gold ornaments kept in a bedroom, Rajan couldn’t locate the gold,” Sreekumar said.
Saji was part of the conspiracy and is also accused of hiding the cash. He accompanied Rajan to Kannur where the duo stayed in Saji’s relative’s house for a day and returned later.
The accused had earlier planned to commit the crime on the day of Shebin’s engagement, but later dropped the idea, the police said.
Though Iniya’s father Salahuddeen had complained to the Karamana Police that Rs 5 lakh and gold ornaments weighing 10 sovereigns were stolen, the gold was later found in the house itself, the police said.
The police said that a preliminary investigation had pointed out the involvement of a person who had close connection with the family.
“The front door was not tampered with and we deduced that either the original key or a duplicate one was used. Shebin’s links with a gangster raised our suspicion,” Sreekumar said.
The police recovered Rs 2,51,000 from the accused of which Rs 60,000 was seized from Saji.
The investigation was led by City Police Commissioner H Venkatesh, DCP Ajeetha Begum, Crime Detachment AC K E Baiju and Control Room AC P Bejoy.
The team members included Thampanoor CI Y Kamaruddeen, Control Room CI Sureshbabu, Thampanoor SI A K Sherry, Karamana SI C Mohanan, Control Room ASI Sunil Lal and shadow team members ASI Viswanathan, Sajukumar, Lanjulal, Harilal, Arun Raj, Shamnad, Sanju, Shibu, Manikandan, Vinod, Saji, Ranjith, Arun and Jayakrishnan.