Jewellery shop owner’s son, kabaddi players arrested for robbing goldsmith’s staff

CHENNAI: The Tiruvallur district police on Friday arrested five persons including a bank staff for waylaying the staff of a goldsmith and robbing cash and jewels worth 174 sovereigns from them, four days ago. The accused bank employee is the son of a jewellery shop owner and his accomplices are Kabaddi players in the city.

Preliminary investigations revealed that the mastermind of the robbery, S Kamal Kishore (31) has been planning the robbery for the past two years.

Last Monday, two men Sohan (23) and Kalu Ram (30), who is employed by a goldsmith, Rameshwarlal (43), were robbed by the gang near Magaral village.

Rameshwarlal, a native of Rajasthan, runs a goldsmith unit in Nerkundram and his staff supplies the jewellery to shops in Kancheepuram, Chennai, Chengelpattu and Tiuvallur. Sohan and Kalu Ram who had delivered jewels to shops at Nazarathpet, Thamaraipakkam and Poonamalle were riding towards Red Hills when they were robbed.

Special teams formed by the Tiruvallur district perused hundreds of CCTV footage and found that the victims were followed in a car and two motorbikes in several stretches. After zeroing in on the suspects, police rounded up Kamal Kishore.

Investigations revealed that Kamal Kishore’s father, Sunil runs a jewellery store near Thirunindravur. “Kamal who was employed with a bank in Anna Nagar in Chennai was not going to work regularly for the past six months. His father had set up a pawnbroker shop for him and asked him to take care of it. Rameshwarlal’s staff used to supply jewellery to Sunil’s shop too and noting that they carry several lakh worth of jewellery, Kamal Kishore had planned to rob them, “a senior police officer said.

For the waylaying, he took the help of Tamil Mani (28), Balaji (29), Sugumar (26) and Gladis (30). Police have recovered 820 grams of the stolen gold jewellery from them. “We are still investigating the accomplices, “the officer said.

The arrested persons were produced before a magistrate and remanded into custody.

Investigation revealed that the accused planned the robbery for two years