Andhra couple held for 5-year-old Malkangiri robbery

Koraput: The Malkangiri police on Monday arrested a couple who were accused of drugging a gold trader’s family and decamping with ornaments and cash over five years ago.The accused, identified as Madasu John Paul and Inturi Aruna, natives of Kuppuravaru village in Andhra Pradesh’s Guntur district, were arrested from Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu after an extensive inter-state investigation.

Police recovered around 200gm of gold ornaments, two country-made pistols, nine live cartridges, a laptop and a motorcycle from their possession.Malkangiri SP Vinod Patil said the accused had meticulously planned the crime after gaining the confidence of the victim’s family by posing as a married couple in search of rented accommodation.“The accused stayed as tenants in the complainant’s house for nearly three months and carefully studied the family’s routine before executing the crime.”

the SP added.According to the police, the incident took place on March 2, 2021, when the couple had rented a portion of the house belonging to gold trader Subash Patil in Malkangiri town. Claiming they had eloped from Andhra Pradesh and were looking for a place to stay, they convinced the family to rent them the accommodation.The SP said the accused had remained absconding for more than five years by constantly changing locations and deliberately avoiding the use of mobile phones, making it extremely difficult for investigators to trace them.