JODHPUR: The Jodhpur Police said today they have arrested a man they believe could be the key to unlock the mystery surrounding the killing of a Tamil Nadu policeman investigating a gold heist at a jewellery shop in Chennai.
Inspector S Periyapandiyan (48) was killed early Wednesday in Rajasthan's Pali district, where he and other policemen from Tamil Nadu were sent to arrest the suspects involved in the heist in Chennai.
The Jodhpur Police said they arrested Dinesh Jat, an accomplice of Nathuram, whose gang is believed to be behind the heist.
The police said Jat was arrested during a burglary attempt in Shikargarh area of Jodhpur on Thursday night.
He was wanted by the Jodhpur Police and has been named in several cases, SHO (Ratanada) Ramesh Kumar said.
The Chennai Police arrested four other persons in connection with the heist at Mahalaxmi Jewellers in the city last month. Nathuram, the gang leader, still remains at large.
Meanwhile, an audio clip has surfaced in which the main accused Nathuram can be heard threatening the owner of the showroom, Mukesh Jain, that he will eliminate his family if he pressed charges against the four men arrested by the Chennai Police. He also sent text messages to Jain a few days ago, according to the police.
The Chennai Police, on trail of Nathuram, had raided his home on Tuesday night in Jaipur. During the raid, Inspector Periyapandiyan was shot and killed.
Nathuram managed to escape.
Chennai Police Joint Commissioner Santosh Kumar has reached Pali to oversee the investigation.
"We have been awaiting both the postmortem report of the officer and the FSL report as well as the ballistic report to ascertain how and which bullet hit the officer," said a police officer.
Last month, robbers decamped with about three kg of gold from the Chennai jewellery shop, after drilling a hole in the ceiling. Special teams were formed to catch the robbers, who were suspected to be from Rajasthan.