The Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the armed robbery at Eroor and Pulleppady has recovered CCTV footage purportedly showing those behind the serial attacks.
According to officials, the examination of CCTV footage collected from Thripunithura revealed that an 11-member gang had arrived at a cinema hall in the suburb on Friday night, hours before an armed gang struck an isolated house at Eroor.
According to sources, the same group was also caught in the CCTV of a private money lending institution at Eroor in the early hours of Friday, a day before the attack.
“We suspect that the gang captured by the CCTV at Eroor on December 14 and those who struck houses in Kochi and Thripunithura are one and the same,” said a senior official.
More CCTVs, especially those at railway stations, will be examined to check if the gang had been taking the rail route. “They [gang members] are suspected to have dropped in by trains late in the night before moving to target the houses and returned by train after committing the crimes,” the official added. Meanwhile, police teams have been despatched to Surat in Gujarat and Pune in Maharashtra in search of the gang members.
Migrants in custody
Besides, a few migrant labourers, who live near the attacked house at Eroor, have been taken into custody for interrogation.
Further, the public has been asked to alert the police if they come across people moving around in suspicious circumstances.
In the wake of the attack, the police held a meeting with the Thripunithura Rajanagari Union of Residents Association (TRURA) and urged them to be alert.
