Are rising gold costs driving first-time offenders to crime?

The skyrocketing gold worth seems to have led just a few within the State down the legal path, if latest theft instances reported from totally different elements of Kerala are any indication. Those arrested for allegedly snatching gold chains of late embrace two native politicians and a college worker — all first-time offenders. The accused, pushed by mounting monetary stress, ended up in hassle at the same time as gold costs continued to hover round ₹1 lakh per sovereign.

Kuthuparamba Municipal Councillor P.P. Rajesh was arrested on October 18 for allegedly snatching a gold necklace from a 77-year-old lady of Kanniyarkunnu whereas she was cleansing fish in her kitchen yard. He was suspended from the CPI(M) following the incident.

According to the police, Rajesh confessed that mounting money owed had pushed him to commit the crime. The similar purpose was reportedly cited by Shajahan of Koduvayur, a former unit president of the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI), who was arrested by the Kuzhalmannam police in Palakkad for allegedly snatching a gold chain from an aged lady within the second week of October. In August, Sampath, then an workplace assistant with a government-aided college at Choolannoor, was arrested by the Alathur police in Palakkad for the same offence. While Shajahan allegedly snatched the decoration of a milk vendor, Sampath reportedly stole the necklace of a lady who was returning after her work as a part of the nationwide rural employment scheme.

A West Bengal native was lately arrested by the Kothamangalam police for allegedly snatching a gold necklace from an aged lady at Puthuppadi in Ernakulam. The 28-year-old youth reportedly pressured the girl out of her home, claiming that he noticed a snake on the premises of her home. He allegedly snatched her decoration when the girl was frantically searching for the snake. He was nabbed from Muvattupuzha on October 22, a day after the incident.

“Though there is no such thing as a knowledge exhibiting any enhance in gold theft instances in latest occasions, it’s notable that the victims in many of the latest instances had been aged ladies. While younger ladies choose to put on skinny necklaces, older individuals, usually out of behavior, choose to put on visibly heavier ornaments, generally ending up in hassle. The rise in worth of gold might have been a purpose behind the latest thefts dedicated by first-time offenders, with all of them claiming monetary burdens drove them to wrongdoing,” an officer with the Ernakulam rural police stated.

A 3-member bike-borne gang had reportedly snatched a necklace weighing three sovereigns from a 72-year-old lady in broad daylight at Kozhenchery in Pathanamthitta in August. In a serious gold theft reported within the State lately, 45 sovereigns of gold had been stolen from the home of a health care provider at Chevarambalam close to Chevayur in Kozhikode in September. A serial offender from West Bengal was arrested within the case.