The daylight robbery in which a man was reported to have lost gold worth ₹26 lakh after being attacked with chilli powder in Muvattupuzha on Thursday afternoon was fabricated by the victim, the police said.
The incident was reported to have taken place near the Thrikka Mahavishnu Temple in Muvattupuzha around 12.30 p.m. Rahul, an employee of a firm engaged in lending against gold, had complained that while riding his scooter he had come under attack by two helmet-wearing persons on a motorcycle that came from the opposite direction. According to his account, they threw chilli powder in his eyes and got away with the gold in his laptop bag.
Following this, a team from the Muvattupuzha police led by inspector T.C. Murukan had rushed to the crime scene and launched a probe. A case was also registered forthwith.
The police rummaged through numerous CCTV images and took the statements of the people who happened to be in the neighbourhood of the crime scene. Scientific and forensic examinations were also held at the end of which the police were convinced that the whole story was cooked up by Rahul.
According to the police, Rahul who was reportedly reeling in debts diverted the gold and then fabricated the story of the assault. He had robbed the gold from his own firm on two separate occasions. While gold worth ₹20 lakh was pawned in his own firm, the rest was hidden near the temple, the police said. The police recovered the gold in his presence.
A team led by Assistant Superintendent of Police (Trainee) Anjaly Bhavana, DySP A.J. Thomas, inspector T.C. Murukan, sub-inspectors Baiju P. Babu, Dileep Kumar, Shanthi K. Babu, K.K. Rajesh, Beno Bhargavan, M.V. Reji, assistant sub inspectors P.C. Jayakumar and T.A. Muhammed, and senior civil police officers M.K. Faisal, Nishanth Kumar, Dhanesh B. Nair, H. Harris, and Ranjith Rajan investigated the case.
