<![CDATA[SALEM: The local police yesterday claimed to have cracked the 690 sovereign Muthoot Mini Financiers theft case after arresting a staffer of the firm in the finance company’s Gangavalli branch. But a the case took an intriguing turn after the arrested staffer confessed to having stolen 690 sovereigns of gold, but denied whisking away `1.35 lakh from the strong room. Police believe someone else managed to sneak away with the cash even before they reached the scene. On 16 August the branch manager of Muthoot Mini Financiers Private Limited’s Gangavalli branch lodged a complaint stating 690 sovereigns and `1.35 lakh were looted from the strong room. Police officials found a window on the backside of the building broken open. Three special teams were formed to crack the case. Meanwhile the special teams trailing the perpetrators found out that the locker and strong room were not broken, but opened using keys. This led to their suspecting an insider job. The officials pulled out a list of past and present employees, and zeroed-in on V Marudhaimani (25), a resident of Thandavarayapuram, on suspicion. Marudhaimani was a few days earlier transferred from Gangavalli branch to Puthiragoundanpalayam. On being grilled, Marudhaimani to having burgled the jewellery by gaining entry into the strong room using duplicate keys. In order to make the police believe that theft was committed by a burglar Marudhaimani reportedly broke the window on the backside of the building. He later hid the jewellery in a rented a house at Jothi nagar in Attur. Even as the police arrested Marudhaimani on Thursday and recovered the jewellery from the rented house, sources said that the accused denied role in the missing cash. The police were looking into the burglary from a fresh angle and suspected some other person might have taken away the cash, sources claimed.]]>
