A 35-year-old man named S. Venkatesan was arrested by the police on Friday on the charge of stealing 50 sovereigns of gold jewellery from his neighbour’s house in Ram Sait Nagar near Thorapadi in Vellore town. Venkatesan, who works at a branch of a public sector bank in Somasipadi village near Tiruvannamalai town, was a long-time neighbour of the victim, K. Balaji, a software professional.

The incident occurred on September 3 when Balaji’s wife, B. Mekala Priya, a government school teacher, returned home from school and discovered the damaged cupboard and missing gold jewellery in the bedroom. The police were immediately alerted.

A police team consisting of sniffer dogs and fingerprint experts arrived at the scene and launched an investigation. They discovered that the rear grille gate of the house provided easy entry into the bedroom, with no damage to the gate’s lock. The CCTV footage in the area was also analyzed.

The police questioned Venkatesan as a neighbour and found discrepancies in his statements. He claimed to have been at a grocery shop at the time of the theft, but the police confirmed he was at home. Additionally, he stated that he had cleaned the water tank on his terrace, but no evidence of cleaning was found. CCTV footage from the grocery shop revealed Venkatesan picking up chilli-powder sachets.

Confronted with the evidence, Venkatesan confessed to the crime. He revealed that he had stashed the stolen valuables in the locker of the bank where he worked to avoid suspicion. The police recovered the stolen items from the bank locker, and Venkatesan was arrested and taken to the Central Prison in Vellore.