Tirunelveli : A 36-year-old woman and her male friend were arrested by Tirunelveli Town police for staging a break-in to conceal the pawning of 33 sovereigns of gold jewellery worth around Rs35 lakh.
Upon returning, Balagurusamy found the front door latch broken and 33 sovereigns of gold missing from the cupboard, following which he lodged a police complaint.
Revathi’s husband, Balagurusamy, a utensil merchant from Tirunelveli Town, had travelled to Thenmalai near Sankarankovil last week for a temple festival sale, according to police. Before leaving, he dropped Revathi and their children at his sister’s residence, locking their house. A special police team initiated a probe. Forensic experts discovered chilli powder sprinkled across the crime scene to mislead sniffer dogs. However, investigators grew suspicious when they noticed that while the outer entrance had been forced open, the cupboard had been unlocked cleanly with its original key. Fearing her husband would discover the missing ornaments, Revathi conspired with Krishnan to stage the heist. She instructed Krishnan to enter the house, rummage through the cupboard to make it appear ransacked, and scatter chilli powder sourced from her kitchen.
Following their confessions, police arrested both Revathi and Krishnan and remanded them in judicial custody on Sunday.