Within a week after the daylight robbery at a private gold finance firm at Pandalgudi here, the district police headed by Superintendent of Police (additional charge) Vijayendra Bidari arrested eight suspects and recovered 478 sovereigns of gold ornaments and Rs. 63,500 in cash from them.
The arrested suspects included P. Vigneshwaran (23) from Aruppukottai, who worked as a cashier in the firm and was one of the two persons locked up inside the office by the robbers during the theft last Saturday.
According to the police, Vigneshwaran had acquainted P. Velraj (31), running a mobile phone repair shop opposite to the firm.
“Vigneshwaran had informed Velraj about the absence of CCTV cameras in the firm. Though Vigneshwaran did not know the entire plan, he knew that the incident was going to happen on the said day and he would get his share later,” said an officer involved in the investigation.
The officer said that while the robbers banked on the absence of CCTV cameras to avoid getting caught, they did not think about the CCTV cameras located in buildings in the vicinity, including that of an agricultural cooperative society, which captured their movement. “The mobile tower dump data also helped in the investigation,” the officer said.
Apart from Vigneshwaran and Velraj, the other persons arrested were R. Arumugam (30) and S. Satheesh (29) from Sengulam in Sivaganga district and S. Vijaykumar (25), N. Kannan (34), B. Tamil Selvan (23), R. Rajkumar (23) from Madurai. Police sources said that Arumugam, who allegedly put together the team for the robbery, was an accused in a murder case in 2012.
Of the 625 sovereigns reported stolen, police said that the suspects had pledged some of the ornaments in banks, which were yet to be recovered.
The gang had also allegedly bought a car with the stolen money. Things recovered from the gang included two two-wheelers and three four-wheelers used for the crime.
A case was registered at the Pandalkudi police station based on the complaint by the firm’s manager, V. Muruga Jeevanandam (44), who was the other person locked up inside the firm during the robbery.
SP Bidari had formed six special teams under the supervision of Additional Superintendent of Police (Headquarters) Virudhunagar Madasamy. Praising the efforts of the special teams, Mr. Bidari said that their systematic and meticulous investigation led to the quick detection of the case.
