Cops held for 300-sovereign gold robbery

Police seized 100 sovereigns of ornaments from them and Rs 10 lakh cash. Mahendran (52) of Thiruvalur owns a jewellery shop and supplied gold ornaments to shops in Sunguvachatiram and Sriperumbudur.

On December 11, Mahendran’s son, Ashish (25) along with staff Rajkumar (55) travelled to Kancheepuram in an auto for supplying jewellery. Police said they finished work in Sunguvachatiram and while travelling to Sriperumbudur on the NH, four men on bikes intercepted the auto at knifepoint and snatched the jewellery bag from Ashish. Rajkumar who tried to fight back was attacked.

Mahendran filed a complaint with Sriperumbudur police on December 12 and three special teams were investigating the case. On Wednesday, police arrested Tamil, a grade II constable attached to Manamathi police station and Kathir, a grade II constable from Thirukazhukundram police station along with eight others. Sources said both the policemen belong to Sunguvachatiram and they were in the same batch during training.

The police are searching for five others and a special team is in Chennai to nab them. Police sources said Tamil and Kathir became friends with the robbers while they were on duty in prison. Both had joined duty in 2017. When contacted, DIG B Shamoondeswari said, “Inquiries are on and if the involvement of the policemen is confirmed, both will be sent to jail and later suspended.”