A gold bangle a day lands man in police net

The practice of maintaining daily sales record helped a jewellery shop owner uncover a theft and land the culprit in the police net.

The accused, an employee of the jewellery store, was arrested last week. On Tuesday, the police recovered 417 sovereigns of gold jewellery, a car and two bikes. The seizure is estimated to be worth Rs. 82 lakh.

According to the police, Bhaskar (49), a resident of Ramalingapuram, was in charge of the bangles section of Kerala Jewellers in Purasawalkam.

He took advantage of the positioning of the CCTV cameras — all of them focused only on customers — in the shop, and stole pieces of jewellery every day, for nearly two years. He also made fake entries in the daily sales record book.

“He took home a gold bangle every evening. As the staff members were not body-checked at the end of the day, he managed to escape with the loot. Also, since he had been working at the shop for nine years, no one suspected him,” said a police officer.

But Bhaskar’s luck ran out last Monday when 44-year-old Sibi Joseph, owner of the shop, checked the record books and found a mismatch between sales and stock. He found around 3.5 kg of gold jewellery missing.

Mr. Joseph filed a complaint with the Kilpauk police. When Bhaskar heard of it, he went on leave raising more suspicion. When the police interrogated him, Bhaskar confessed to the crime.

“He stole the jewellery to buy a car. He also gifted some of the ornaments to his girlfriend. Part of the loot was recovered from her house,” said another police officer.