COIMBATORE: Four days after a Kerala-based goldsmith was robbed of Rs 30 lakh on the Salem-Kochi highway near Ettimadai, the Coimbatore district police arrested three persons in connection with the case.
The Coimbatore district (Rural) police formed three special teams to apprehend those involved in the heist. The investigation is ongoing, as police suspect that a few more suspects from two different gangs may be connected to the crime.
The arrested suspects, all from Ernakulam district in Kerala, have been identified as K Maneesh (31) from Kalady near Mattor, V Vishnu (32) of Okkal, and D Joseph (26) of Manjapra.
The victim, K Jayan (50), hails from Vadakkanchery in Thrissur district. He previously ran a gold polishing shop in RS Puram, Coimbatore, but faced severe losses and subsequently closed his business. Jayan then began working at a goldsmithery unit in Thrissur. He had a connection with a gold businessman in RS Puram, who frequently gave him large sums of money to purchase gold ornaments via auction from Kerala.
On July 12, Jayan received Rs 30 lakh from the businessman to buy jewellery. While riding a bike to Kerala with the money, an unknown gang intercepted him in a multi-purpose vehicle on a flyover near Ettimadai. The three-member gang dragged Jayan off his vehicle and robbed the cash, before abandoning him a kilometre away from the crime scene.
Following Jayan's complaint, the KG Chavadi police registered a case, and Superintendent of Police Dr K Karthikeyan formed three special teams to apprehend the robbers.
The robbers had used a fake registration number plate on their vehicle, which they replaced with the original after reaching Palakkad on July 12.
Upon reviewing CCTV footage along the route, the police identified the vehicle's owner. The investigation led to the suspects' arrest, and the police seized Rs 6 lakh in cash and the multi-purpose vehicle used for the heist on Thursday. They were remanded to the prison.
Police suspect that a few more people from two different gangs operating from Palakkad and Ernakulam may be involved — one group gathering information and the other executing the robbery. The seized amount of Rs 6 lakh was reportedly paid to the arrested suspects by the prime suspects, who are still at large. Special teams are working to locate the remaining suspects, said police sources.