A gang of robbers who looted a jewellery shop on the busy South Avani Moola Street here, was nabbed by the public and police after a hot chase on Saturday. The three gun-toting robbers looted around 20 sovereigns of gold jewels, Rs. 6,000 and some silver articles from the shop located near the office of Commissioner of Police.
While the police and traders managed to nab two persons after a chase for over a kilometre, the third person was apprehended near the railway station a few hours later.
According to police, the robbers, identified as J. Shishan (20), K. Saithap (22) and S. Saijaja (20) from Kolkata entered Vishnu Ram Jewellers at around 10 a.m. The owner, R.M. Rengarajan, said the culprits gagged the lone employee, Sakthivel (20), and locked him inside the strong room. “They asked him for the keys for the safe vault. When they came to know that the keys were not with him, they shoved him inside the room and locked it.” Later, they took the valuables kept in the cash box.
When the robbers, while exiting, opened one of the doors they had closed during the robbery, another employee turned up outside the shop. On seeing three strangers rushing out of the shop, he raised an alarm. Local traders tried to pounce on them but the gang members brandished guns and escaped in an autorickshaw. However, the locals did not give up and chased them. The police said two of them were nabbed by a traffic policeman with the assistance of traders.
“I was performing puja after cleaning the shop when a fair-looking man entered the shop and asked for jewels. Even as I asked him to come later as the owner was not around, two more came in and asked for the locker keys. Since I did not have them, they bundled me into another room and started searching for cash before switching off the CCTV cameras,” said Mr. Sakthivel.
