A Tollygunge resident was arrested on Wednesday for allegedly faking a robbery at her house.

Sonali Biswas, 43, a homemaker had alleged that two men attacked her when she was entering her Moore Avenue apartment around 6.45pm on Monday.

She had told the police that the men pushed her, tied her hands, gagged her and went on to rob gold jewellery that was kept in the house for an upcoming wedding.

Over the next two days, investigators questioned Sonali for many hours and it appeared there were several inconsistencies in her statements to the police. The circumstantial evidence also did not match with her statements, officers said.

Sonali was arrested on Wednesday along with her brother-in-law Raja Nag for allegedly selling the ornaments that she claimed were stolen from her apartment and faking the robbery, the police said.

“We know what happened on Moore Avenue. The CCTV footage that is available did not match the complaint. We had doubts and based on that, the woman was interrogated. She has given the details,” Manoj Kumar Verma, commissioner of Kolkata Police said.

“So, we can say that this is not a crime but a kind of deliberate effort. There is some motive. Maybe some issues related to property and ornaments,” he said.

A preliminary investigation revealed that Sonali and Raja had siphoned off jewellery over the last few months.

Officers said Sonali faked the robbery when she realised the family would get to know the gold ornaments were missing from the house and that she couldn’t justify their disappearance from the almirahs.

Sonali’s husband Piklu Biswas’s son from his first marriage was scheduled to get married.

“Sonali said she wanted money for herself and her ailing mother. She took a gold loan from a non-banking finance company against 76 grams of gold jewellery,” said a senior police officer.

“She sold 70 grams of gold jewellery and gold coins to a jewellery shop in Kalighat.”

On Monday, Sonali told the police two men, who overpowered her were hiding on the landing of the stairs that lead to the floor above, followed her into her flat before she could sense trouble and bolt the door from inside. The men wore T-shirts like gig workers, she told the cops.

She said they smashed plates and left with eight to 10 pieces of gold jewellery kept in the house for the upcoming wedding. Piklu was not at home when the incident took place. He returned around 8.15pm, nearly an hour-and-a-half after the alleged robbery.

Based on the time that Sonali claimed the alleged robbery took place — close to 6.45pm — officers started scanning CCTV footage from the building, located less than 200m from Regent Park police station, and from cameras on the road outside the building.

“No men of the description that Sonali gave were seen entering the building around that time. We went with sketch artists and three different sketches were made of the criminals,” said a senior officer of Regent Park police station. “No one close to the sketches was seen entering the house around the time when the robbery took place on Monday evening.”

The officer said after prolonged interrogation, Sonali confessed she had made up a tale, admitting that her parents were facing financial problems and she had to arrange for money.

She tied up with her brother-in-law to take the ornaments in phases, the officer said.

“The gold jewellery is yet to be recovered. Sonali and Raja have been remanded in police custody till February 25. We will question them further,” the officer said.