MADURAI: A decade-old jewellery theft case took a bizarre twist when the mother of the absconding accused lodged a complaint claiming the employees of a city-based cooperative bank had allegedly replaced 20 sovereign gold pawned by her son with fake articles.
The matter came to light on Saturday when Govindammal (60) redeemed the jewellery pawned by her son Ramkumar nearly 10 years ago. On checking, she found that the articles were fake. Based on her complaint, the bank manager, accountant, cashier, clerk and peon were booked. sources said.
The ornaments were pawned by Ramkumar on three different dates in 2002 for `1,26,000. However, after learning that he was a suspect in a jewellery theft case, Anna Nagar police wrote to the bank in April 2003 requesting it not to release the articles.
As police were unable to arrest Ramkumar in connection with the case for over a decade, his mother Govindammal petitioned a court stating that her son had gone missing. She further sought permission to redeem the jewellery after repaying the loan with interest.
Earlier this year, a city court issued an order in her favour. Subsequently, she redeemed the 20-sovereign jewellery from the bank after repaying the loan.
However, when Govindammal checked the authenticity of the redeemed items, she found them to be fake. She lodged a complaint with the Anna Nagar police, who registered a case against the employees of the bank and began investigations.