DHARMAPURI: A total of nine people involved in the robbery incident near Periyampatti, where over 5.95 kg of gold were stolen, were arrested and efforts are on to catch six others in the same case. Inspector General of Police (West Zone) K Bhavaneeswari told the media, “On September 28, at around 1.45 am, employees of Sri Diksha Jewellery shop were transporting about 5.95 kg (743 sovereigns) of gold in a car, which was purchased in Karnataka.
While the group was travelling to Coimbatore along the Krishnagiri - Dharmapuri National Highway near Periyampatti, two cars stopped the shop’s car and a group from the cars beat up the four employees of the car. The group had robbed over 5.95 kg of gold, the car used by the jewellery shop and over Rs 60 lakh in cash.”
Following a complaint from G Prasanna (40), the jewellery shop owner, Dharmapuri Superintendent of Police Stephen Jesupadham and DIG (Salem) Rajeshwari investigated the matter. Forensic teams were dispatched to collect evidence.
Based on orders from the IG, 10 special teams, led by DSP Harur Pugalendhi Ganesh, Palacode DSP Sindhu, and Salem Crime branch DSP Illamurugan, began investigating the theft. “We found the stolen car a day after the theft. Based on CCTV footage, a team arrested three people, Sujith (29), Sarath (36) and Pravin Das (33), a week ago. After inquiring about them, police arrested four others, including A Shihabudeen aka Subhash, MS Shinu (30), Akhil (30) aka Ambulance and AS Sujish (35) aka Kuttan in the late hours of Friday. Further, two others, Anthony and Cyril, were arrested on Saturday. All the accused from Kerala,” she said.
“A total of four cars, eight mobile phones, two 33 gram chains and gold weighing about 5.95 kg have been recovered from them. Over Rs 19.50 lakh of the Rs 60 lakh stolen cash has been recovered, while the rest of the money was used to buy different products, including gold and a car. The recovered assets amount to over Rs 3.71 crore,” she added.