ONGOLE: Prakasam district police have intensified the investigation into the robbery of 2 kg of gold from two Coimbatore-based merchants in Ongole on November 4, suspecting that a gang from Tamil Nadu planned the crime after tracking their movements.
Police said gold merchants RD Balaji and his son Ratna Saravan regularly supplied gold to Ongole traders. The duo arrived in the town by train on November 4. After they left the railway station, seven men intercepted their vehicle, forcibly took them to an isolated location, assaulted them and robbed the gold concealed in their clothes. The victims were later admitted to Ongole Government General Hospital and lodged a complaint.
Prakasam SP V Harshavardhan Raju assigned the probe to Additional SP (Crimes) Ch Venkateswarlu and deployed Central Crime Station personnel. Investigators collected toll plaza CCTV footage and technical evidence, which reportedly suggested that the suspects were from Coimbatore and had conducted a recce before following the merchants.
Police suspect the gang used different routes to reach Chennai and Coimbatore, avoiding toll plazas. It also allegedly used a car with a duplicate registration number plate to evade detection.
“After the theft, the gang members cleverly avoided all toll plazas and reached Chennai, then Coimbatore, through different routes. Their vehicle was not captured by toll plaza CCTV cameras. They used a duplicated car registration number plate. Two more teams have now been deployed to nab them, and we are confident of cracking the case shortly,” a police officer said.
The investigation had slowed due to local body election duties, vote counting and cyclone relief operations. Police have now stepped up efforts to trace the suspects.