Kochi: Police have arrested the brother of the house owner in connection with the theft of 30 sovereigns of gold from the Income Tax quarters at Panampilly Nagar.
Muvattupuzha native Jovi George (37) was arrested as a result of the investigation that lasted several days. The complainant was the house owner’s wife.
The gold was stolen from the quarters on October 29. The theft happened when the family went to Muvattupuzha to lay the foundation stone to their house. Police realised that the theft was done by someone close to the family as the lock of the door was not broken.
One of the neighbour’s gave the statement that someone wearing a helmet came out of the quarters. Police examined the CCTV cameras in the area using the colour of his shirt and helmet.
Meanwhile, Police received information regarding a scooter that was spotted in the area. Even though they could not identify the license number of this scooter, they traced the accused using its colour.
Jovi George used to live in this quarters. During this time, he was given a scooter for his personal use. Along with the key of the scooter, Jovi was also given a spare key to the quarters. Police found out that Jovi used this key to enter the house and steal the gold.
The accused pawned some of this gold at a private finance institute in Muvattupuzha and sold some of the gold in Perumbavoor. Meanwhile, he was hiding in Mumbai and in Bengaluru. Ernakulam South police arrested him from Kochi airport based on the information that he would travel to Kochi from Mumbai.
Jovi George committed the crime in order to settle the debts that he created through gambling. Police found Rs 1.5 lakhs in cash with him and also retrieved 15.5 sovereigns of gold that he had pawned earlier.
