Neighbour held for stealing cash and gold worth Rs27.5m in India

AM Abdussalam, Correspondent

Kerala police on Monday arrested Lijeesh, 45, for stealing gold sovereigns and cash worth Rs27.5 million from the house of his neighbour Ashraf, a prominent rice wholesale merchant in Manna, Valapattanam, near Kannur, on Nov.20, 2024.

Kannur City Police Commissioner Ajit Kumar confirmed the arrest of the accused, Lijeesh, on Monday, detailing the meticulous investigation that led to the breakthrough.

Lijeesh, a Gulf returnee and welder, was taken into custody by the special investigation team formed to probe the case.  He confessed to the crime on Sunday evening during interrogation, and his arrest was recorded on Monday.

According to police, Lijeesh carried out the theft by breaking a window of Ashraf’s house and completed the operation in just 40 minutes while Ashraf and his family were away attending a wedding in Madurai, neighbouring Tamil Nadu, on Nov.19. The family discovered the robbery upon returning home on Nov.24.

The investigation team identified Lijeesh through CCTV footage and fingerprint evidence.

The footage showed Lijeesh, described as a bald man, returning to Ashraf’s house on the day after the theft, raising suspicion.

Despite attempting to disrupt the CCTV camera placement, the repositioned camera provided a clear view of a room inside the house.

"Lijeesh accidentally tilted one of the CCTV cameras, which ended up recording him inside the house,” Kumar said. This footage played a crucial role in identifying the thief, according to the police.

"We began interrogating Lijeesh on Saturday evening, and he confessed to the crime”, he said. Kumar said that as part of cracking the case, the probe team analysed at least 115 call detail records (CDRs), reviewed 100 CCTV footage on a 24/7 basis, and examined fingerprints from 76 individuals.

Officials also scrutinised 67 criminals with similar methods of operation and questioned a total of 215 people.

Lijeesh had also left behind a tool used during the theft and returned on 21 November to retrieve it. He was unsuccessful, but he admitted to the act during questioning, and the tool was later found during the investigation.

The fingerprints taken from the scene were matched with those collected from a previous theft in same district, which occurred a year earlier.

The police had already concluded in the initial stages of the investigation that the thief was someone familiar with the surroundings of Ashraf's house.