Police suspect role of inter-State racket in gold robbery in Thrissur

Investigation team carries out multiple raids in Thiruvalla on Monday to recover looted gold

Investigators suspect that an inter-State racket hatched the conspiracy that led to the theft of 2.63 kg of gold jewellery worth around ₹1.84 crore by waylaying a car at Kallidukku on National Highway-544 at Peechi in the Thrissur city limits around 11.15 a.m. on September 22.

The racket has links in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and other States, according to the team probing the case. Since the jewellery was being brought from Coimbatore, it is suspected that information might have leaked from there itself.

The racket executed the operation using gangsters hired from different places and it is suspected that the gang members didn’t know each other.

“Except Roshan Varghese, the key accused who has since been arrested, the others had little idea about the plot and were hired from different districts,” said police sources. Others who have been arrested in the case are Siddique, Shijo Varghese, Nishanth and Nikhil. Four of them, including Roshan, was arrested from Thiruvalla, and the other from Palakkad.

The investigation team carried out multiple raids in Thiruvalla on Monday in search of the looted jewellery, which remains to be traced. At least five or six accused remain to be nabbed, said sources in the investigation team.

Two vehicles seized

The police have seized two of the three vehicles used for the robbery. They were found to have been taken on rent citing various reasons.

Elaborate planning has gone into the robbery and messages were extensively exchanged by the accused over WhatsApp. While the police have recovered the mobile phones of the accused, the messages were already deleted. “We will have to subject the mobile phones to forensic examination and collect Call Details Record with the help of the cyber cell,” said the sources.

The Peechi police have registered a first information report (FIR) on the robbery based on a complaint by Arun Sunny, 40, of Chembukkavu in Thrissur. His friend Rojy Thomas was also with him at the time of the incident.

According to the police, Mr. Sunny was an agent who was engaged by jewellery showrooms in Coimbatore for making jewellery from gold. The robbery happened when he was bringing gold from Coimbatore and the loss of such huge quantity of gold has left him in trouble.

The accused who came in three SUVs waylaid Mr. Sunny’s car at Kallidukku Service Road. Incidentally, the robbery was caught in the camera of a private bus that was travelling behind the victims’ car. In the video, one car could be seen parked obstructing the path of the victims’ car, another was parked by its right side and the third behind the car, with a trailer on the left side. The victim and his friend could be seen forcibly shifted to one of the cars by the accused, who were masked. Later all the four vehicles were driven away. Mr. Sunny and his friend were assaulted and later the accused abandoned the car.

Published - September 30, 2024 07:07 pm IST