10-member gang drills hole in shop wall, flees with valuables

Sources said that Prem Kishore of Chettupattu was running a jewel store in the locality. Ezhumalai, a local resident, was working as a watchman in his shop. 

Meanwhile, on Tuesday night, Prem Kishore after the days’ business shut shop and went home. Sensing that the store has been closed, a 10-member gang entered a mechanic shop by breaking the wall of a nearby shop and then drilled a hole on the back side of the jewel store. 

Ezhumalai, who was on duty, on hearing the drilling sound went to the back of the shop and checked. On seeing him, three members of the gang thrashed, gagged and tied him up before dumping in a nearby toilet. On hearing the screams of Ezhumalai, Shiva, who was sleeping in front of a nearby shop came to his help. The gang attacked and tied up him also. 

During this time, the other 7 members lifted 50 kg of silver, 350 grams of gold jewels and Rs 1 lakh in cash from the jewel store. They also tried to break open the locker in the shop, but failed in their attempt. Thanks to the strong locker, jewels worth several lakhs remained untouched. The gang then escaped with the booty. 

The gagged duo, who somehow managed to free themselves, immediately ran to the house of Krishnamurthy, a close friend of Prem Kishore, who was residing nearby. Krishnamurthy immediately alerted Prem about the theft incident over phone. On information from Prem, a police team along with a sniffer dog inspected the scene of crime. The dog ran up to the temple situated on the foothills of Devipuram. 

Police said that the gang had tried to smash the CCTV camera installed in the shop. But the images of the gang had been recorded in the camera. 

Police during initial investigations interrogated Ezhumalai, who had joined as watchman of the shop only 1 ½ years ago. A special team has been formed to nab the culprits.