London:
Detectives investigating last week's double murders of Indian-origin Avtar Singh Kolar and his wife Carole Kolar in Birmingham have ruled out gold theft as a motive, while the police have been given more time to question one of the arrested suspects.
Amidst a spate of recent burglaries for gold in the area, particularly in houses owned by Asian families, there were reports that the Kolar house may have been targeted.
The West Midlands Police, which earlier said gold theft was a "significant" line of inquiry, have now ruled this out as a motive for the murder of Avtar Singh, 62, and Carole, 58.
"The robbery of gold was not a motive in this case," a West Midlands Police spokesman said.
The bodies of the couple were found by their police officer son, Jason, last Wednesday morning.
A 37-year-old suspect, still being questioned by detectives, was arrested on Monday and was the third detained as part of the murder probe.
Officers were yesterday granted an extra 12 hours to question him.
The police said that forensic post-mortem examinations have been conducted, which confirmed that both the victims died as a result of blunt force trauma to the head.
Both had been struck a number of times.
The reward of 10,000 pounds put up by crime-fighting charity organisation, Crimestoppers, continues to be available to anyone providing information that leads to the arrest and conviction of the persons responsible for this crime.
Forensic experts continued to examine the couple's house for evidence, reports from Birmingham said.