Thief, so what… branded shirt, shoes, accommodation in luxury hotel, disguise for escape; Guruvayur theft accused is a KGF fan too

THRISSUR: Dharmarajan, the accused in Guruvayur gold theft case, was caught because of the tattoo on his hand, police said. Although there was not even a tinge of evidence, the accused’s tattoo was clearly visible on the CCTV visuals. Following which, the police launched an investigation.

The accused had tattooed his son’s name Vijay Dhanushi on his hand. The investigation team was able to nab the accused by checking the crime records in Tamil Nadu and Kerala.

He had fled after stealing 3.45 kilogram of gold worth Rs 1.5 crores from the house of an expatriate gold trader. After arriving at his native place in Chandigarh, he stayed at a luxury hotel for several days.

He paid a rent of Rs 1 lakh for just 10 days’ accommodation. Dharmarajan was arrested from the hotel by the investigation team. He was then taken for evidence collection at his house in Thampuranpadi, was produced before the court and remanded.

During the evidence collection, Dharmarajan confessed to the police about the route he travelled in 40 minutes, how he got inside the house and how he took the gold. He had arrived at the house on a stolen bike. He jumped off the fence and entered the first floor of the house through the back door.

After entering the room, the accused asked, "Is the cupboard missing?". As the house owner returned from abroad, the gold was stored as bars. The accused had stolen the gold from the cupboard in the bedroom. It was damaged and was hence shifted from the room.

The accused told the police that he was amazed to see that much gold. As he got so much gold from the first room itself, he did not bother to go to the other rooms. He also took care to wipe all the touched areas with a cloth to clear the fingerprints.

This is not the first time that Dharmarajan was caught for theft. A lookout notice has been issued in Tamil Nadu against the accused who had escaped from custody at Thanjavur South police station three months ago.

There are around 17 cases registered against him in various police stations in the district namely Pazhayannoor, Mannuthy, Ollur, Perinthalmanna in Malappuram, Thrithala in Palakkad and Shoranur. A bike theft case is also registered in Angamaly and Elamakkara stations in Ernakulam.

The accused took various disguises in order to escape from the police. He changed his hairstyle and dressing. He began wearing full sleeve shirts instead of half sleeves and coloured his hair. Branded clothes and shoes were Dharmarajan’s weakness too.

The theft at gold trader Balan’s house in Thampuranpadi took place on May 12 by around 7:30 pm, while the family went out for a movie in Thrissur.

A few days before the arrest, Dharmarajan’s WhatsApp status was full of a mass dialogue from ‘KGF’, “I will bring all the gold in this world to my mother”. The police also suspect that the accused had shown the picture of the stolen gold to his friends.