The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Robbery case cracked in 36 hours in Chennai

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Mar 04, 2005

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Robbery case cracked in 36 hours in Chennai

By Our Staff Reporter

CHENNAI, MARCH 3. The Pondy Bazaar police arrested two persons and recovered Rs. 12.30 lakhs stolen from a foreign exchange bureau in Pondy Bazaar, T. Nagar, on Monday.

The City Police Commissioner, R. Nataraj, said that Raja, an employee of the firm, hatched a plan to rob the firm with two of his friends, Vinoth and Pradeep. Vinoth and Pradeep came to the shop on Monday morning and threatened Sarfraz and Arvindh, two employees, who were in the shop at the time, opened the drawer with a screwdriver, removed the cash and escaped.

Suspecting Raja, the police put him under surveillance.

Soon after stealing the cash, Vinoth went to Tambaram via Koyembedu and Parrys Corner. From Tambaram, he went to Anakaputhur and gave a portion of the stolen cash to Anthony, who was arrested by police.

Meanwhile, the police received information that Vinoth had reached Villupuram. Before the police could trace him, he escaped to Tiruchi.

Here again, he managed to give a slip to the police and proceeded to Nagercoil.

The telephone calls made by Vinoth helped the police in tracing him, S. Murugan, Deputy Commissioner of Police, T. Nagar, said. When he was traced to Nagercoil, the local police were alerted, leading to his arrest.

The stolen cash — Rs. 7 lakhs in Indian currency and 5.3 lakhs in foreign currency — was recovered and handed over to S. Ramesh, proprietor of Forex Bureau, by the Commissioner. Mr. Nataraj also distributed cash rewards to the police team, which recovered the stolen property within 36 hours of the offence.

Asked about the robbery at Padma Sri Gems and Jewellers, a jewellery shop on North Usman Road, T. Nagar, in which a four-member gang attacked an employee and took away jewellery weighing more than 250 sovereigns, Mr. Nataraj said they had some leads.

He appealed to the city shop owners to check up on people applying for jobs before recruiting them.

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