Chennai: Even as special teams of police arrested the key accused in the Lalithaa jewellery heist, police is trying to find most of the stolen jewellery. Trichy City Commissioner, Amal Raj said that “much of the robbed valuables are yet to be recovered.”
On 2 October, in a pre-planned heist, two masked men gained entry into the jewellery showroom near Chathiram bus stand, Tiruchi after drilling a hole in the wall of the shop.
They decamped with 800 pieces of gold, platinum and diamond ornaments kept on the ground floor valued at Rs 13 crore.
The mastermind of the heist Murugan, a history-sheeter and smuggler had surrendered at a court in Bengaluru. Police is conducting inquiries with him. Police said, Murugan took double the amount of gold compared to his accomplices.
The first arrest took place days after the robbery, accused Manikandan was caught by the police after a chase near Manappuram. From him, police recovered 4.25 kilograms of gold. Kanagavalli, mother of another accused and Murugan’s elder sister, was also remanded with 450 grams of jewellery.
Police also arrested one Ganesan (35) and seized six kilograms of gold from him.
It may be noted that Murugan and Suresh had visited the shop two months ago posing as customers and conducted a surveillance.
They found that one of the walls of the store was vulnerable. Over a span of three days, they drilled a hole and carried out the heist.