CHENNAI: Within a week after a seven-member gang made away with 4.8 kg gold from a jeweller, the city police on Friday arrested a kingpin of the Tiruchy-based gang and recovered a large part of the stolen jewels.
Police said the gang managed to divert the attention of one Nikhil who, along with his brother Vishal, was running a jewelry shop on NSC Bose road, when they came to deliver the jewels to a customer in T Nagar on June 18 morning.
The two brothers came to T Nagar with 4.8 kg gold chains in two leather bags, kept under the rear passenger seat. They also had another jewels-packed bag, which Vishal took to hand over it to a leading jeweller, while Nikhil stayed in the car. Nikhil, who was at the wheels, had parked it in front of jeweler’s shop on Nageswara Rao Road and was waiting when the gang duped him.
An unidentified man, who knocked on the window of the front seat, told Nikhil that he had dropped his cash. Nikhil got down from the car and began gathering `10 notes scattered near the car. Utilising the opportunity, the gang stealthily opened the rear door and took the leather bag and fled from the spot.When Nikhil got inside the car after collecting the 11 currency notes, he realised that he had been cheated and the jewel bag was missing.
He immediately alerted his brother and a complaint was lodged with Mambalam Police. The police team collected all available CCTV footages from the shops in that stretch and narrowed down on the suspects.
The officials then sought the help of confidential informers to identify the persons. From them, the officials learnt about a gang from Tiruchy which used to camp in the city and carry out similar heists.
Following specific inputs, a special team was put on the trail of a key suspect who was picked up from Tiruchy bus stand with the jewels.
From his possession, the cops managed to recover as many as 231 gold chains weighing about 3.25 kg. The arrested was identified as Azhagu Raja, a resident of Ramji Nagar, Tiruchy. During interrogation, he confessed that he was planning to flee to Mumbai as six of his accomplices had already left to sell their share.