CHENNAI: A city police inspector was killed in a shoot-out in Rajasthan's Pali district in the wee hours of Wednesday where a special team went to nab suspects wanted in connection with a gold heist which took place in Chennai last month.
The deceased has been identified as Inspector Periyapandi of Maduravoyal police station Chennai.
Muni Sekar, another inspector who accompanied him suffered serious injuries and has been admitted at Imam hospital in Rajasthan.
"At around 2.30 am today, his team was going to nab the main suspects when they allegedly pelted stones on the cops and attacked them with iron rods. When Periyapandi was running to chase one of the suspects, he was shot dead. He died on the spot," confirmed a senior officer.
Periyapandi went to Rajasthan as part of the special eight-member team to nab the suspects associated with the gold robbery which took place last month. The robbers had drilled a hole on the rooftop of a jewelry shop in Rajamanagalam and decamped with around 3.5 kilograms gold and cash on November 16.
Two days ago, Periyapandi's team had nabbed four persons from Rajasthan, who allegedly helped their relative in the robbery st Rajamangalam.
The suspects were identified as Chennaram, father of C Nathuram (28), main suspect and his relatives Ellaram, Shankar Lal and Dauram. Police had launched a manhunt for Nathuram, who is a native of Pali district and Dinesh Chowdary (20) of Jodhpur.
The investigation pointed that the relatives had helped the main suspects- Nathuram and Dinesh to drill the roof open and decamp with the booty.
On November 16, Mukesh, owner of the gold shop and his father left for lunch at around 1 pm. On returning at around 4 in the evening, the two were shocked to find the missing jewelery which included 3.5 kilograms gold, 4.5 kg silver and Rs 2 lakh in cash. The robbers had also taken away the installed CCTV cameras.
"The duo had approached Mukesh on the pretext of renting his shop to start a textile store and had also paid an advance amount," said a police officer.
"After noting the whereabouts of the owners, they decided to break into the shop during lunch and escape with the money," added the officer.
The officer said, the men were identified with the help of a CCTV footage available from the nearby buildings and are suspected to be involved in similar cases in other districts.
Based on a tip-off, a special team was formed and sent to Rajasthan where they nabbed the four men from a village in Pali district in Rajasthan.
The slain inspector Periyapandi has two sons. One of them is studying at Chennai Loyola College and another studying in Class 8.
A police team from Chennai led by Joint Commissioner of Police Santhosh Kumar is headed to Rajasthan to probe the incident.