MADURAI: Sivaganga police on Monday arrested a gang, including four men from Maharashtra, for assaulting a Madurai resident and stealing 1.700 kg gold bar from him.

Vijayarajan, a resident of Madurai, allegedly brought a gold bar weighing 1.700 kg for business purposes. A gang posing as customs officers picked him up in a car. They attacked him, snatched the gold, and left him on the road near Kanadukathan.

The Karaikudi North police registered a case on August 4. Based on CCTV footage, a special team conducted investigations at jewellery shops in Madurai and zeroed in on Abhimanyu Prashanth, the mastermind behind the crime.

Four others from Maharashtra – Chetan, Tukaram, Devpa, and Rishikesh helped him. The special team, which acted swiftly, arrested Abhimanyu Prashanth, Tukaram, and Devpa and sent them to judicial custody. In order to recover the stolen jewellery and the car used for the robbery, the team reached Maharashtra and investigated various places in Mumbai, Navi Mumbai, Solapur, Satara, and Sangli districts, and finally seized the car.

Following this, the team came back to Tamil Nadu and arrested the key accused, Chethan, and seized gold bars weighing 1,346 grams from him and sent him to judicial custody. The SP lauded the team for their swift action.

The SP also instructed the team to find whether any other criminals were involved in the crime and recover the remaining 354 grams of jewellery.