One week after a gang of armed assailants robbed a jewellery outlet owner of nearly 100 sovereigns of gold at Pallipuram, the Thiruvananthapuram Rural police recorded the arrest of three people allegedly involved in the attack and one person who allegedly aided them in selling the gold.
The police also recovered some of the gold from them. The accused have been identified as Ansar, 28, and Nebin, 28, from Perumathura, Faisal, 24, from Andoorkonam and Perumathura-native Noufal, who helped them sell the gold.
The police recovered 13 bangles, 7 rings and 4 earrings and an amount of ₹73,500, from the accused. One of the cars used in the robbery was also recovered.
Attingal Deputy Superintendent of Police (Dy.SP) C.S. Hari told The Hindu that the police had been scouring the CCTV visuals and mobile signals from the area in which the crime happened. This pointed to the involvement of a local gang who had a clear idea of the topography.
“While verifying multiple CCTV footage from the locality, we realised that the perpetrators knew almost all the bylanes in the area, through which they plotted their escape after the crime. Only a local gang would have such an understanding of the bylanes. So, over the past few days, we have been tracking the history-sheeters in the area and questioning some of them. We noticed the absence of some of them from the area just after this incident happened. After a few rounds of questioning, we zeroed in on these three,” said Mr. Hari.
Search for mastermind
The police are on the lookout for the others involved in the robbery as well as the person who masterminded the crime, which the police suspect to be someone who had a clear idea of the itinerary of the jeweller.
The robbery happened at Pallipuram on last Friday night, with a gang of 10 travelling in two cars waylaying the Sampath Surve, a jeweller from Maharashtra, and his driver Arun.
The incident occurred when they were on their way to deliver the gold ornaments from a jewellery outlet in Neyyattinkara to another in Attingal.
After breaking the windshield of their car, the gang allegedly hurled chilli powder on them before slashing Sampath’s hand using a machete and stealing the gold. Arun, who was also attacked, was dragged into a cars and later abandoned near a temple 5 km away.
The case took an unexpected turn when the investigation team recovered ₹75 lakh in unaccounted cash from the jeweller.
Mr. Sampath had apparently handed over the cash, kept in a concealed chamber in the car, to a relative in Attingal before alerting the police of the burglary.
The cash was seized after the relative who figured in the complainant’s call detail record around the time of the crime was questioned.
