MADURAI: Two days after several kilograms of gold and diamond jewellery were looted from a Tata Tanishq showroom in Madurai, the city police arrested the father of the prime suspect and a social media influencer — the suspect’s girlfriend, who allegedly played a major role in planning the heist — on Saturday and recovered around 5 kg of the stolen jewellery.
Special police teams have intensified the search to arrest the prime suspect, S Nishanth, who is still at large.
DCP (South) A G Inigo Divyan, who heads the investigation under the supervision of Madurai Commissioner N Rajendiran, told TNIE that exact details of the heist would come to light only after Nishanth’s arrest.
Suspect visited showroom multiple times before heist
The DCP said Nishanth is suspected to have entered the showroom premises and stolen the jewellery. The heist came to light when the showroom staff opened the doors to the first floor of the four-storey building around 9.30 am on November 12 and noticed the racks damaged and the jewellery missing. SS Colony police have registered a case.
The police said the suspect escaped from the locality with the help of his father, V Suresh (53), and his girlfriend, M Meenakshi (22). Suresh helped the suspect dispose of his clothes and other evidence, whereas Meenakshi played a key role in planning the heist, said police. A team of officials has been conducting an inquiry with Nishanth’s family members since Friday afternoon.
The police have revised the quantity of stolen jewellery, from the initially estimated 23 kg to 11 kg, comprising 10 kg of gold jewellery and one kg of diamond jewellery. Police said, Nishanth buried 5 kg of the stolen jewellery in Madakulam kanmoi (tank), from where it was recovered on Saturday evening. The police also suspect the involvement of one more person in the heist.
Further, the police said Nishanth had made multiple trips to the showroom to plan the heist, including an alleged scouting visit on November 5. Also, the police said Nishanth had stolen the jewellery for Meenakshi, who is allegedly facing financial difficulties. Initially, he had kept the stolen jewellery at his house, located near the showroom, before escaping with a portion of it.
Suresh and Meenakshi were taken to Government Rajaji Hospital for medical examination, and then produced before a judicial magistrate, who remanded the two in judicial custody till November 29.