Two days after 4.6 kg of gold jewellery was stolen from a Jos Alukkas showroom in Coimbatore, the police on Thursday arrested the wife of the man involved in the burglary and recovered 3 kg of the jewellery.
City Police Commissioner V. Balakrishnan said the police were on the lookout for the burglar, M. Vijay, 25, of Devareddiyur in Dharmapuri district.
While Vijay’s wife V. Narmatha, 23, was arrested in Dharmapuri, he managed to escape from a house near Anamalai, where he sought shelter with the help of a friend.
Narmatha was aware of the burglary and concealed a portion of the stolen jewellery, Mr. Balakrishnan said.
Vijay was involved in two cases registered in Dharmapuri district and one in Coimbatore.
Fingerprints lifted from the jewellery showroom matched those of Vijay, which were maintained by the police in Crime and Criminal Tracking Network and Systems.
The police also analysed visuals from over 350 surveillance cameras, including the ones inside the showroom, Mr. Balakrishnan added. It is learnt that Vijay escaped from the house near Anamalai, taking help from his former prison-mate Suresh, when a police team from Dharmapuri reached the spot to secure him for his involvement in a previous case. The special teams of the Coimbatore City Police, headed by Deputy Commissioners G. Chandeesh (Coimbatore North) and K. Shanmugam (Coimbatore South), have intensified the search for him.
Mr. Balakrishnan said Vijay entered the third floor of the showroom through a narrow duct. The showroom had two security guards and 12 employees were on the top floor when the burglary happened in the early hours of Tuesday. Inside the showroom, he searched for cash and later picked gold jewellery randomly. The showroom did not have any active intruder alarm system. Asked how the burglar managed to find the duct, which could be known only to those familiar with the showroom,He said the police were investigating whether more persons were involved in the burglary.
Mr. Chandeesh said the burglar managed to get inside the building and exit like an acrobat, as seen in surveillance camera visuals.
