Kottayam: More than 40 days after possibly the biggest robbery in a finance firm in Kottayam took place, the district police have nabbed an accused.
Gold ornaments worth Rs 1.25 crore and Rs 8 lakh were stolen from Sudha Finance at Mandiram Junction near Chingavanam in Kottayam on August 7.
On Monday, Kottayam District Police Chief K Karthick presented the second accused, Aneesh Antony, 26, a native of Kalanjoor in Pathanamthitta before the media.
The officer said the first accused, who is wanted in over 15 criminal cases, is still at large. SP Karthick has also not ruled out the role of more than two accused in the crime.
A 'piece' of evidence
The robbers had been meticulous in their work, leaving hardly any evidence. They had used a gas cutter to open the locker room.
The Digital Video Recorder (DVR) of CCTV installed at the firm was removed. They had also sprinkled detergent on the entrance and the premises, aiming to put sniffer dogs off the scent.
But they left two bits of evidence behind that eventually proved crucial -- a detergent packet and a piece of newspaper used to wrap it.
"The detergent was locally made in Aluva and the newspaper was of a local edition (Cherai), which gave us a clue that they were operating out of Ernakulam," SP Karthick told Onmanorama.
"We observed several criminals and finally narrowed down on the suspect." However, the cops are yet to recover the gold.