BENGALURU: Muniyappan (42), an employee of Chemmanur Jewellers in SJ Park, had never in his wildest dreams thought that it was his wife Nagalakshmi who stole gold ingots worth `27 lakh from him.
Interestingly, Nagalakshmi had assumed that she had managed to evade the police for five months. Little did she know that the police were following her every move.
Police sources said Nagalakshmi (36) was previously married to another person, but he died three years after their marriage. After the husband’s death, she was living with her child. She later started working in a jewellery store where she met Muniyappan, who was unmarried. Both fell in love, got married and even had a child. In the meantime, Nagalakshmi was sacked from work after the store owner noticed some money missing from his shop.
How she evaded police
After stealing the gold ingots on February 20, Nagalakshmi headed back to Bengaluru from Salem after convincing Muniyappan to not tell anyone that she had accompanied him. Muniyappan did her bidding, but later revealed that Nagalakshmi was with him when he lost the gold. When police summoned her for questioning, she did not turn up. When police went to her house, she created a scene saying she was being targeted only because she was a woman. She also informed TV media that her family was being victimised for losing the gold. This put police on the backfoot.
Later, Halasuru Gate Assistant Commissioner of Police M G Pampapathi and team decided to take a different approach. Nagalakshmi assumed that the police no longer suspected her.
Police informants in her area were asked to keep an eye on her movements. Over time, she approached many pawn brokers in the city to sell/pledge the gold. However, even after three months, she was not able to find a buyer. So she went to Tamil Nadu and pledged two gold ingots but the pawn brokers made part payment and told her to collect the rest later as they suspected her.
She returned to the city and pledged two more gold ingots against part payments. By then, Nagalakshmi had cleared her debt of `5 lakh and also had gifted gold ornaments and some money to her relatives. She also shopped heavily over weekends which led the police to believe that she had been able to sell the gold.
Police then dug up evidence, recovered the gold from the pawn brokers and even got the address proof she had produced to pledge the gold. When they went to arrest her, Nagalakshmi cried foul, but this time the police had come armed with an arrest warrant.