Kerala: Robber strikes it rich, but slip-ups give him away

Familiarity with the house’s layout, surrounding area, and CCTV placement had given the 45-year-old welding worker an initial advantage, however, minor oversights - such as leaving fingerprints and failing to fully conceal his identity led to his arrest.
Lijeesh C P
Lijeesh C P
Updated on
3 min read

KANNUR: It was the confidence from a prior successful theft and expertise in locker making that drove Lijeesh C P to steal 267 sovereigns of gold and Rs 1.21 crore cash from the house of his neighbour Ashraf, a rice trader, at Valapattanam in Taliparamba on November 20.

On Monday, a special investigation team arrested Lijeesh for the theft and recovered the loot that was hidden in a specially built compartment under his cot.

Familiarity with the house’s layout, surrounding area, and CCTV placement had given the 45-year-old welding worker an initial advantage. However, minor oversights - such as leaving fingerprints and failing to fully conceal his identity - proved crucial in the police investigation, leading to his arrest.

Ashraf, along with his family, left for a wedding in Madurai on November 19, which created a chance for Lijeesh to execute the robbery the next day. In a swift 40-minute operation, he entered the house through the kitchen window after cutting through its iron bar. Using his knowledge of the property’s CCTV locations, he attempted to redirect cameras to avoid detection. Despite his efforts, one camera captured partial footage of him, although his face was obscured by a mask.

Assistant Commissioner of Police T K Retnakumar, the head of the investigation team, said Lijeesh’s skills as a welder and locker maker enabled him to bypass Ashraf’s advanced locker system. After confirming his family was asleep, he moved gold and cash in sacks to his house, which he hid in a compartment under his cot.

However, his plan unravelled when he left behind a chisel at the crime scene. The next day, fearing discovery, he returned to retrieve it but was unsuccessful. The chisel was later found by police, and the fingerprints on it became a key piece of evidence. 

Lijeesh involved in another theft: Cops

“The cabin under the cot suggests that he had been meticulously planning the theft for a long time,” said Retnakumar.

Lijeesh, a former expatriate, was taken into custody on Sunday morning after evidence pointed to his involvement. He denied the crime at first, but eventually admitted guilt when presented with irrefutable evidence. Following the lead from the CCTV visuals, the investigation team turned their attention to bald men in the area.

“We thoroughly checked the backgrounds of all bald men in Valapattanam and found another CCTV footage that pointed to Lijeesh,” said Retnakumar.

City Police Commissioner Ajith Kumar explained the meticulous approach that led to the arrest. “We examined CCTV footage from railway stations across Kozhikode to Mangaluru. Analysing the accused’s body language on camera gave us a critical lead. It was consistent with Lijeesh. Once his fingerprints matched those at the crime scene, we had enough evidence to proceed with his arrest,” he said.

Investigators had long suspected that someone with intimate knowledge of Ashraf’s routines was behind the heist. Lijeesh’s proximity to the victim and his awareness of Ashraf’s movements helped him plan the robbery. The family had discovered the robbery upon returning home from Madurai on November 24.

The police examined 115 call detail records (CDRs), reviewed footage from 100 CCTV cameras around the clock, and analysed fingerprints from 76 individuals. They scrutinised 67 known criminals with similar methods and interrogated 215 people. This exhaustive process led them to conclude that the thief was not a seasoned professional but likely someone from the neighbourhood.

Meanwhile, police confirmed that Lijeesh was involved in another theft. He was also a suspect in the theft that took place in Keechery, Kannur, last year. The police were unable to catch him then, but the fingerprint collected that time became crucial evidence now.

Valapattanam SI Unnikrishnan P, who first raised suspicion over Lijeesh’s behaviour, had a doubt that he might be the culprit behind the robbery at Keechery in 2023 as well. “I was the investigation officer at that time. We had no leads on the culprit but preserved a fingerprint from the scene. When we matched it against Lijeesh, it was a perfect match,” he stated.

The police are now probing whether Lijeesh is involved in other unsolved thefts.

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