A youth by name Kiran was arrested by the police today in connection with the Tanishq Jewellers robbery.
Police said the youth was secretly interrogated by the police. As many as four other people have been picked up and they are being interrogated, based on the information provided by him, city police commissioner Anurag Sharma told pressmen.
As part of investigation, the police collecting more information about number of persons involved in the theft. The police have been interrogating two security guards, a security official and a person from the shop management group. The arrested was a native of Epuru village near Vinukonda in Guntur district, the CP said.
During investigation, the police and showroom management came to the conclusion after thorough audit that a total of 15.57 kg gold ornaments worth Rs 5.98 crores were stolen, Sharma said, adding that the case was handed over to the CCS after registering a case.
While investigation was underway, one Kiran, 23, came out and confessed that he had single handedly committed the offence because he was seriously in need of money. On his confession and at his instance, his room was searched and the police so far recovered 528 gold bangles, 40 bracelets, 33 necklaces, 89 pendants, 58 ear stops, 98 finger rings, (some plain ornaments and some studded/embedded with various color stones like emeralds, rubies and so on all weighing 15.5 kg worth about Rs 5.75 crores and cash of Rs 8,640 from his possession.
On persisting questioning and confronting him with the video footage from the CCTV cameras of the shop which showed a handicapped person committing the offence and other technical aspects, he confessed that one more person, who is his cousin from his village one Anand, who is physically handicapped, had actually entered into the showroom and committed the offence. Later, they kept the booty in Kiran’s room, the CP said giving details of the case.
Later, when the offence got extensive coverage in the print and electronic media and coming to know that the entire police force was looking for offenders, they developed cold feet and decided to give up. They discussed and came up with a story that Kiran will confess the offence saying that he wanted to show his talent and also expose loopholes in the security systems, acting on which Kiran approached a media house representative with confession which finally led to his arrest.
Meanwhile, Anand left Hyderabad with a small quantity of ornaments. Police teams have been dispatched to apprehend Anand. Further investigation in other aspects of the case was going on. The police thanked the TV9 for its cooperation. (NSS)