TIRUNELVELI: A 68-year-old woman, fearing police inquiry after her son was secured in connection with a 278 sovereign gold theft case, ended her life on Sunday in Tirunelveli district.
The deceased is A Meenakshi and her son is A Ramakrishnan (40) of Rettarkulam village. Moolakaraipatti police have secured him for allegedly being involved in the theft of 278 sovereign gold ornaments, worth around Rs 1.6 crore, and Rs 3 lakh cash from a pawn shop in the town, around 143 days after the incident here on Sunday.
"V Reman (45) of Moolakaraipatti was running a pawn shop in his area. He closed his shop as usual on August 22, 2024. When he returned the next day to open his shop, he was shocked to witness that his shop was broken open by someone. About 278 sovereigns of gold ornaments and Rs 3 lakh of cash were stolen from his shop. The Moolaikaraipatti police registered a case in this connection. Superintendent of Police N Silambarasan formed nine special teams to nab the culprits. Despite having a large amount of gold ornaments, the shop owner had not installed even a single CCTV camera, which made the police's job tough," said sources.
The police finally managed to secure Ramakrishnan on Sunday. Sources said that the accused allegedly handed over the stolen gold ornaments to his mother Meenakshi and escaped to Secunderabad.
"The police fixed him after a thorough inquiry and analysing various such cases reported in other police stations. They arrested Ramakrishnan, recovered a portion of the stolen ornaments and intensified the inquiry to secure remaining ornaments. Meanwhile, Meenakshi allegedly ended her life by suicide fearing the police inquiry," sources added.
(Those having suicidal thoughts shall seek assistance at TN Health helpline 104 and Sneha suicide prevention helpline 044-24640050)