It was a family issue that a brother wanted to keep under wraps. But when he turned to stealing from elder sister to raise money to help his younger sister, the brother found himself in police net on Sunday.

According to police, he stole gold jewellery worth Rs 3 lakh from his elder sister after his younger sister sought his help to get an abortion.

Police said he paid for his sister?s abortion, but the process put him in debt. To clear this, he decided to steal from his elder sister, police said.

Senior police officers said they started to suspect the brother?s role after they found anomalies in the complaint that he registered. ?He has since confessed to the crime,? Deputy Superintendent of Police Rannvijay Singh said.

Singh said police received a call about an alleged loot on February 19.

?The brother was the complainant. He alleged that when he was traveling to Ikla village with his elder sister in his Maruti Alto car, two persons on a Bajaj Pulsar stopped their vehicle. They were then taken to an isolated spot, where one of the men, who was carrying a gun, got in the car. The other man followed on the bike. The elder sister was robbed of her jewellery by the two men, who later escorted them back to the main road and fled,? Singh said.

Singh said suspicion turned to the brother during his explanation of the crime.

?While he was narrating the incident, he got several calls, but he did not answer any. Usually, in an incident like this, victims want to speak to their family members. Further, it was odd that the assailants, after robbing them at gunpoint, escorted the brother-sister duo back to safety. We detained him on Saturday after investigations, and he owned up to the crime,? Singh said.

Senior police officers said the man?s younger sister had sought his help in the second week of February. ?She told him that she was pregnant and needed an abortion. She wanted him to come up with the money, and keep it a secret from the family. That was when he conjured this scheme,? Singh said.

Police said the brother?s two accomplices have been identified. ?We have arrested one of them and we are looking for the other,? an officer said.