Pawnshop owner who fled with customers’ gold jewellery nabbed

A pawnshop owner, who had gone missing with 328 grams of gold jewellery pledged by customers in Koyambedu, has been arrested.

According to police, Jayachandran, 52, a private company employee residing in Azhwarthirunagar, had pledged jewellery at a long-established pawnshop on Anna Salai, Periyar Nagar, and Azhwarthirunagar.

Between May and July, he pledged two gold chains and two gold rings, weighing around 46 grams in total, and received ₹95,000 as a loan.

When Jayachandran went to the shop on August 14 to redeem his pledged jewellery, he found it closed. Attempts to contact the shop owner, Sunil, on his mobile phone failed as the number was switched off. Jayachandran subsequently lodged a complaint at the Koyambedu Police Station (Crime Wing), following which the police registered a case and launched an investigation.

Police arrested Sunil, 25, who had been running the pawnshop after his father’s demise. Investigation revealed that Sunil had absconded with around 328 grams of gold jewellery pledged by several customers, including Jayachandran.

Sources said he had re-pledged the jewellery that he had collected from customers at another pawnshop and sold some of it. When customers began approaching him to redeem their jewellery, he panicked and fled to Rajasthan, the police said.