The driver of a relative of Top Honcho, a gold finance company, who overheard a conversation about the movement of a large amount of jewelery in a car from Villupuram, had masterminded the highway robbery near Kottampatti late on December 8.
In the investigation conducted by special teams of police, 11 people were arrested and 166 jewels of sovereign weight were recovered which were looted by the armed men.
Speaking to reporters after inspecting the recovered jewelery belonging to Best Money Gold, Madurai Superintendent of Police V. Bhaskaran said that the police suspected the involvement of some insider in the robbery. However, investigation revealed Maheshwaran, the driver of a relative of the finance company’s top administrator.
The SP said, “As he was aware of the movement of gold, he along with his friends Senthil alias Senthil Kumar and Muthupandi from Sivaganga district had hatched a conspiracy to loot it on the highway.” A big gang with weapons had gone to Villupuram and kept a watch on the movement of employees of the finance company.
They were following them from Villupuram and were waiting for the opportune time to strike. When they reached Ayyapatti Junction, they stopped the car and looted the ornaments at Mache-Point. After getting the three employees out of the car, they took the gold and drove away the vehicle. Leaving the car some distance away and fled.
‘Broken the rules’
The SP said that the employees of the company have not followed the rules that their car should have a GPS tracking device and their travel with large assets should not be done at night. “Besides, he had also violated the instruction that a car carrying valuables should not be stopped anywhere on the way,” the SP said.
Special teams of police recovered the jewelery kept hidden at many places.
The 11 arrested include Senthil, Vincent, Maheshwaran, Narayanan, Anand, Muthupandi, Sathishkumar and Manikandan. Police are also looking for two more.