Robbery drama to fool owner of the ornaments

RAMANATHAPURAM: On Wednesday the Ramanathapuram police said a woman, who claimed that 300 sovereigns of jewellery were robbed from her and staged a drama by pawning them in different banks and private finance firms to settle her debts.

K Uma, 40, of Mettu Street in Kamudhi had approached the police on Tuesday claiming that 300 sovereigns of jewellery she took from the bank locker was robbed by bike-borne men in broad daylight. “There was a delay of more than two hours when she finally approached us with a complaint. Also, there were no eyewitnesses to the said daylight robbery, which raised suspicions,” the officer added. When police visited the spot where the alleged robbery took place, they witnessed several people gathered for a funeral and none of them were aware of such an incident.

Preliminary investigations revealed that the jewellery was given to her by her elder sister for safekeeping a year ago. Her brother-in-law, Boopathi Raja is a businessman and film financier. Police said that Uma’s elder sister had asked her to return the jewellery for the impending wedding of her son.

Panicked, she staged a robbery drama. Her husband, Kuruva Lingam is an autorickshaw driver and the family had run into huge debts. Preliminary investigations suggested that she had taken loans to the tune of more than Rs 50 lakh by pledging the jewellery. “She had pledged the jewellery in small amounts at various places. Efforts are on to retrieve them,” Deputy Superintendent of Police, Shanmugasundaram told a source.