Coimbatore man held for stealing tenant’s jewellery after getting caught on camera

City police have arrested a man for allegedly stealing 4.6 sovereigns of gold jewellery from his tenant’s house, after a spy camera caught him entering the property using a spare key.

According to Saravanampatty Police, Krishnakumar, 45, the accused, had rented out the first floor of his house at Kumaran Nagar in Ganapathy to S. Sreehari, an IT professional, and his wife S. Karpagavalli, a private bank employee, seven months ago. Krishnakumar lived on the ground floor with his family.

The couple had kept the jewellery - a pair of earrings, a chain, a bracelet, and a ring - in their bedroom drawer. On November 1, after returning from Mr. Sreehari’s parents’ house in Pattanam, they found a pair of earrings weighing about 13 grams missing. Believing that they could have been misplaced, the couple combed the whole room, but could not find them. Later, on November 23, the couple made another brief stay at Mr. Sreehari’s parents’ house and returned the next day. On December 1, upon checking their ornament box, they found it empty.

Since there was no sign of housebreak, they grew suspicious of Krishnakumar and installed a spy camera in their hall. Around 2:50 p.m. on December 13, Mr. Sreehari, received a notification on his phone of movement detected on the camera. The footage showed Krishnakumar entering the house and leaving quickly after noticing the camera. Shortly after, Krishnakumar contacted Mr. Sreehari in an attempt to justify his entering the house in their absence and asked if he could enter the house to check water leakage on the first floor.

On Saturday, Mr. Sreehari lodged a complaint with Saravanampatti police. Krishnakumar was arrested and the missing jewellery recovered from him.

Published - December 15, 2024 07:26 pm IST