Gold worth Rs 65 lakh missing from Kerala court, officials under scanner

The government ordered a vigilance probe into the theft

Ornaments worth 140 gold Sovereigns, mainly found on the bodies of those who died unnatural deaths, were found missing from a court in Thiruvananthapuram.

The culprits behind the theft were suspected to be court officials, as it was noticed there were attempts to hide the theft by replacing the ornaments with gold-plated ones.

The theft was detected after a family recently approached the Revenue Divisional Office Court, in Thiruvananthapuram, laid claim to the gold worn by a member who had died an unnatural death.

Initial inquiry by a Deputy Collector revealed that items, worth about 70 gold Sovereigns, that were kept as evidence in several cases between 2010 and 2019 were missing.

A subsequent police investigation found that ornaments, weighing nearly 140 gold Sovereigns, worth around Rs 65 lakh, were missing. Around 25 gold Sovereign-worth fake ornaments were found in the locker. Some silver ornaments and Rs 48,500 in cash were also missing.

Sources said that there was no evidence that the locker was broken into, thus the officials who were in charge of the evidence locker would come under suspicion.

The government also ordered a vigilance probe into the theft, while an in-depth police investigation was in progress.