Four persons have reportedly been taken into custody by the city police, barely hours after they allegedly pulled off a daring robbery in the heart of the city, in broad daylight, here on Saturday.
The four, said to be migrant labourers, were held after Yeshurajan, president of the Karumkulam Matsyathozhilali Service Cooperative Society based in Kochuthura, reported to the police that his bag, containing Rs.36.45 lakh, was snatched from him by four masked persons on two motorcycles as he came out of the Canara Bank branch near the Government Ayurveda College junction around 12.30 p.m. on Saturday.
Mr. Yeshurajan, according to the police, had reached the bank to withdraw the amount, sanctioned by the Matsyafed. It was to be distributed at a loan mela to be held on Sunday as interest-free loans to about 350 women from the fishing community.
The police, forming 10 teams, are said to have taken the help of visuals from the traffic surveillance camera at the Ayurveda college junction and from other cameras in the city as well, to determine the direction in which the robbers fled.
According to police sources, two of them were picked up from the railway station premises, while two were picked up from near a private resort’s parking lot at Kovalam.
Rs.7 lakh recovered
About Rs.7 lakh is learnt to have been recovered so far from them. Interrogation was still on when reports last came in.
How the accused knew about Mr. Yeshurajan’s visit to the bank and the rest of the details of the robbery, including whether there were others involved, were being ascertained, the police said. A team led by Thampanoor Circle Inspector Sheen Tharayil is conducting the investigation.
