Chennai: Hunt on for jewel thief who took Rs 2.25 crore gold

Chennai: Police are on the lookout for an employee of jewellery shop in Ayanavaram after he reportedly vanished with 9 kg gold worth over Rs 2.25 crore and Rs 2 lakh in cash on Saturday.

Police said they are hunting for the employee Deepak who is absconding since Saturday night. “We suspect the hand of Deepak in the crime. It is not easy to escapee from the city with so much gold. We are summoning his friends to question,” said an investigating officer.

The shop Balaji thangamaligai, belonging to Goparam is situated on Somasundaram street. It is on ground floor while the first and second floors are used as his residence. The incident came to light on Sunday morning when Goparam came to open the jewellery shop.

On Saturday evening, Goparam closed the shop and went to visit a Jain temple in Vepery along with his family. Deepak, son of Goparam's friend, was also staying in the same building. Deepak stayed back home saying he was not well while all others went to the temple. The Rajasthan native Goparam had been running the shop for more than 15 years on the street and had employed Deepak for the last three years and he was living in the same building.

“It appears Deepak went to the shop after Goparam left for the temple with family. He knew the place where the key is usually kept. He had damaged the CCTV system installed in the shop. Neighbouring shopkeepers had seen Deepak going in and coming out with another person. But nobody suspected anything fishy because Deepak usually opens the shop and closes it,” police said.

When Goparam returned home, Deepak was not there.  He thought Deepak might have gone to visit his friends. Only when he opened the shop on Sunday morning did he link the Deepak's disappearance to the missing gold and cash.  Preliminary investigations revealed that Deepak's girlfriend was missing since last week. Police believe that that the theft was a well planned operation.