The Trichy police have nabbed yet another suspect in the Lalithaa Jewellery robbery on Sunday. The local police have detained 26-year-old Murali, a relative of Murugan, who is a history-sheeter and an accused in the theft. The detention is reportedly to track down the jewellery stolen from the shop on October 2.
While the men seen in the CCTV footage removing the jewellery from the showcase are allegedly Murugan and another man named Suresh, police suspect that several others were involved in the planning and attempt to sell the jewellery. But the clues all fell into place after an intense bike chase on October 3, a day after the theft made headlines. Police at the Vilamal Junction in Tiruvarur spotted Suresh and another history-sheeter named Manikandan travelling together by bike.
“We had our own sources on the ground telling us that Manikandan and Suresh were involved in the case. We had already intensified vehicle searches after the robbery and when our beat officers spotted them and tried to stop them, they just sped past,” says a senior officer from the district.
CCTV footage from the spot shows the two men speeding away and two policemen immediately jumping on a bike to chase them.
While Manikandan was riding the bike on the busy road, Suresh was riding pillion.
“The minute they tried to escape our suspicions increased. We tailed them for about 10 minutes. Suresh jumped into a water channel and escaped. But we nabbed Manikandan,” says the officer.
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Manikandan had 4.25 kg of gold on him. Kanagavalli, Suresh’s mother and Murugan’s elder sister, was also remanded with 450 gm of jewellery.
The enquiry conducted with Manikandan and Kanagavalli led to the immediate unravelling of the case.
“If they were not arrested the very next day, we might have still been investigating possible suspects,” says the senior officer.
The duo have been remanded to judicial custody for 14 days. Meanwhile, police are still questioning relatives and friends of Suresh and Murugan to glean details of their whereabouts.
“We are definitely looking into all angles. So far, about 5 kg of gold has been recovered,” the officer says. Reports suggest that a total of Rs 13 crore worth of gold was stolen. “We have not ruled out the possibility of the gang having help from the inside. But at the same time they could have scouted the location and studied it before carrying out the theft,” he adds.
Following the heist, seven teams were formed by City Police Commissioner A Amalraj to catch the robbers. The two had ignored all the silver ornaments and made away with gold, diamond and platinum ornaments.
Source: The News Minute