The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : A day after the heist Police stumble upon vital leads in Alukkas Jewellery case

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, May 18, 2006

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

A day after the heist Police stumble upon vital leads in Alukkas Jewellery case

Staff Reporter

Faint images of two miscreants spotted after analysis of footage

TAKING STOCK: Home Minister K. Jana Reddy convened an emergency meeting with the City Deputy Commissioners of Police in Hyderabad on Wednesday after the heist at Alukkas Jewellery on Tuesday. To the right is DGP Swaranjit Sen and DCP ( East) B. Balak rishna . — PHOTO: P.V. Sivakumar

HYDERABAD: The police on Wednesday stumbled upon a significant lead in the form of faint images of the two miscreants, who broke into the Alukkas Jewellery shop, after painstaking analysis of the footage recorded by the secret cameras in the shop.

One of the suspects was tall with slightly curly hair. Detectives began efforts to get the portraits of the suspects prepared on the basis of these images. During reconstruction of the crime scene, police found the building accommodating jewellery shop had a staircase from ground floor on rear side with a shutter in the front.

This staircase had become a thoroughfare for the persons working not only in the Alukkas but also other shops located in the building.

"Possibility of the offenders going up the terrace by the staircase and hiding there till midnight is more," an investigator explained.

Investigators also found out that the duo had light snacks before embarking on their mission. A plastic cover with traces of `chutney' was found on the terrace along with some tools.

The intruders did not take away the entire gold and jewellery on display only because they could not carry any more load.

The stolen jewellery weighed nearly 43 kilos.

"Had they taken away the entire gold and jewels from showcases, the loss would have been much higher," a police officer explained.

Instead of breaking the shutter's lock, they cleverly cut off the movable fastener of the shutter, which is generally locked with a fixed iron clasp. Sleuths suspect the burglars did this fearing noise of breaking lock might alert others. After the shutter, there was a wooden double door. They inserted a screwdriver or a rod between the two doors, through which pushed up an iron wire and pulled down the bolt.

The footage showed the duo walked up to the strong room on the first floor, examined its alarm and sensors using torchlight and apparently decided not to touch it.

Police found that the lights were switched off by the shop workers and not by burglars.

While a Gujarati news daily published from north India dated last April 14 was found in the staircase, copies of a local English daily were found wrapped around the tools abandoned atop the terrace.

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