A major heist at Lalithaa Jewellery Mart in Tiruchi in the early hours of Wednesday, when masked burglars made away with booty worth nearly ₹ 13 crore, has prompted police to carry out security audits at banks, financial institutions and pawn shops possessing high value assets across the central zone.
A senior police officer said detailed security audits were conducted on Wednesday and Thursday in over 5,000 banks, financial institutions, pawn shops and jewellery outlets by the jurisdictional officer to ascertain the security system in place and identify lapses.
“Although security audit is being conducted by police regularly, the major burglary at the jewellery outlet in Tiruchi has prompted us to carry out the exercise to ensure that the security systems are in place at these institutions and discover lapses, if any, to suggest remedial measures to them, the officer said.
The burglary in Tiruchi City had its echo elsewhere in the zone, with police teams conducting detailed checks in lodges to look out for any anti-social elements or north Indian gangs.
It was during such checks and information that six men from Jharkhand were found staying in a lodge in Pudukottai.
Police teams conducted checks in over 200 lodges in Tiruchi Range encompassing Tiruchi, Pudukottai, Ariyalur, Karur and Perambalur districts on Wednesday night.
Similar checks were carried out in more than 300 lodges in Thanjavur Range comprising Thanjavur, Tiruvarur and Nagapattinam districts.
Movement of ex-offenders against whom crime cases were pending were also being monitored.
In Tiruchi Rural Police jurisdiction, checks conducted at lodges in Tiruverumbur, Samayapuram and Kollidam areas situated on the outskirts of Tiruchi City yielded nothing tangible for the teams, said another officer.
It was under Tiruchi Rural Police jurisdiction that a major burglary in Punjab National Bank’s Bikshandarkoil branch on the outskirts of the city was reported in January.
Police sources said though there was some similarity in the modus operandi adopted by culprits in Punjab National Bank burglary case and Wednesday’s heist at Lalithaa Jewellery Mart, it was too early to conclude that the crimes were committed by the same gang.
In both cases, culprits drilled a hole on the rear side of the building to gain entry.
Interestingly, the bank and jewellery mart are situated along busy thoroughfares dotted with commercial and business establishments.
In the Punjab National Bank burglary case, the culprits were well-prepared with implements, including gas cutter, cylinder and iron rod, to drill a hole on the rear side of the building to gain entry.
They randomly cut five lockers, decamping with 470 sovereigns of gold and ₹19 lakh in cash along with the hard disk connected to the surveillance cameras installed inside the bank, said the officer.
The burglars left behind the equipment while escaping with the booty.
However, in the Lalithaa Jewellery burglary case, the masked men took away only the valuables without touching the hard disk.
It is due to the absence of the hard disk that Tiruchi Rural Police face a daunting task in achieving a breakthrough in the bank burglary case even more than seven months after the offence was committed.
