Chennai, Oct 19: A special team of police recovered a luxury tourist van which was allegedly used during the heist at Punjab National Bank (PNB), Trichy in January.
Police seized the vehicle after interrogating an accused, identified as C Ganesan (35) of Madurai, who confessed to the police the location of the van.
It is reported that the gang used the same van to carry out the Lalithaa jewellery heist. Three more persons have been arrested in connection with the PNB case.
The series of events began after police arrested a gang for robbery of jewellery worth Rs 13 crore consisting of gold and diamonds from Lalithaa Jewellery in Trichy. The men drilled hole into the the wall of the jewellery showroom and decamped with the valuables on 2 October. The crime was masterminded by history-sheeter Thiruvarur Murugan, who surrendered before a Bengaluru court.
Based on scientific evidence, police found that the same gang had carried out the burglary at the Bikshandarkovil branch of PNB in Trichy in January.
In a similar fashion, they drilled a hole on the wall and walked away with 470 sovereigns of gold and Rs 19 lakh cash.
Reports said that, three more persons from Madurai have been arrested, taking the total number of arrests to seven.
It is said that the gold robbed from PNB was melted and sold.
The special team of police also found that Ganesan was involved in a robbery of five kilograms of gold and silver from a house in Bengaluru. He was arrested along with his brother Gopal, who was an accomplice in the robbery.
Talking about the progress of the investigation, Commissioner of police, Amal Raj said that it would be a challenging task to recover all of the stolen valuables.