south

Updated: Oct 04, 2019 01:41 IST

Tamil Nadu police on Thursday detained six men from Jharkhand in Pudukkottai on suspicion of being involved in the Rs 13-crore heist at a Tiruchirapalli showroom a day earlier, officials said.

The incident was caught in surveillance cameras installed in the showroom of Lalithaa Jewellery, a jewellery chain having its showrooms in 15 South India cities. Early on Wednesday, two burglars wearing masks and gloves drilled a hole on the showroom’s sidewall and fled with jewels.

Lalithaa Jewellery proprietor Kiran Kumar said the burglars escaped with 35 kg of jewellery valued at Rs 13 crore. “Burglars had taken jewels from the ground floor and the first floor out of the three-floor showroom.”

Late on Thursday night, the police arrested one accused in connection with the burglary Thiruvarur, about 100 km from Trichy where the crime took place. 4.5 kg of jewels were retrieved from him. Police said Seerathoppu Suresh, another accused, managed to flee from the spot.

“Manikandan said that a team of people had looted the jewels. After the burglary, they shared the loot. He was arrested after the barcode of the jewels matched with those stolen from Trichy,” said a police officer.

Trichy city police commissioner A Amalraj said seven teams were constituted to nab the suspects. “We suspect that people from outside the state could have done this,” he said.

Police searched all lodges in Tiruchirapalli and neighbouring Karur, Thanjavur, Pudukkottai and Perambalur. “Even as we obtained CCTV footage from four different cameras, we could not identify the thieves. We found another footage from [a CCTV cameras] on the street showing the entry of burglars from the nearby empty ground. Burglars was wearing thick hand gloves to ensure that they do not leave their fingerprints,” a police officer involved in the probe said. “The burglars came wearing toy masks. They used a backpack to take away the jewels...,” he added.

Trichy police came to know about six men who were staying at a private lodge at Pudukottai. “When the special team entered room number 106 of the lodge, there were five people inside. They claimed to be blanket sellers from Jharkhand. However, the sixth man who had gone out for bringing food for the others, tried to flee. He fell and sustained injuries. He has been hospitalised while the remaining five have been taken into custody,” the officer said.

The officer said the burglars sprinkled chilli powder so that sniffer dogs won’t be able to follow their trail.

“Our investigations are progressing. We are sure that we will arrest the accused within two days,” police commissioner Amalraj told reporters.