Kannur: Payyannur police have cracked the curious case of a wedding-day jewellery theft at Karivellur by arresting the groom's cousin. The accused, A K Vipini (46), is the daughter of the groom’s maternal aunt. Police said the theft was driven by vanity, not greed.

On May 1, Archa S Sudhi, a software developer from Kollam working with an American credit reporting firm at Technopark, Thiruvananthapuram, married fellow techie A K Arjun at his family home in Paliyeri, Karivellur.

After the ceremony, once the guests had left, Archa stored her bridal jewellery -- 240 grams worth around Rs 21 lakh -- in a shoulder bag and placed it in a cupboard in the first-floor bedroom of Arjun's house.

Around 9 pm the following day, she discovered the jewellery missing and filed a complaint. Police registered an FIR and began investigating, questioning relatives and friends in Kollam and Thiruvananthapuram over the next two days, but found no leads.

When police returned to Arjun’s house on May 7 for further questioning, they found a white carry bag just two metres from the house containing all the stolen ornaments. Police immediately suspected a nervous family member rather than a professional thief.

Police started questioning Arjun's relatives and asked them, including Vipini, to give their fingerprints for analysis. "That's when she confessed to her family," said Payyannur Sub-Inspector P Yadukrishnan. But even before that, she started feeling the heat and discreetly left the jewellery near Arjun’s house, hoping police would end the investigation, he said. "She didn’t intend to sell it," said Yadukrishnan. "She had a jewellery obsession. Financially, her family is secure."

Vipini was produced before the Payyannur Judicial First Class Magistrate Court, which remanded her in custody for two weeks.