Lawyers-burglars nexus unearthed

While police have arrested Pandi alias Madurai Pandi (28) and Raja alias Rajappa (27) in their hometown Tirunelveli, another accused Kannan has already been remanded by Madhavaram police in another case. These three men, along with absconding Ramar, form a bigger gang with informers in cities such as Salem, Coimbatore, Tirunvelveli, Chennai and even a few places in Kerala and also have advocates on their payroll to bail them out, police officials revealed.

The informers will monitor the movements of people in bungalows in posh areas and alert the burglary gang about the ideal time to loot the house. Later, a team will set out in a hired a car and decamp with valuables. That is how dentist Sridharan’s house in Sunnambu Kolathur was burgled on October 24 in which he lost 32 sovereigns and Rs 2.5 lakh in cash. While Kannan was caught by Madhavaram police in connection with another heist after which the other three escaped to Tirunelveli. 

Pallikaranai police, who were investigating the burglary in Sridharan’s house, gathered the CCTV footage in the locality and found that a car was parked near the victim’s house for nearly two hours on the day of the heist. With the vehicle’s registration number, police enquired in Madhavaram and found out that an advocate helped a gang to hire a car, but he too was hiding. 

A team of cops rushed to Tirunelveli and arrested Pandi and Kannan, while Ramar managed to escape. 

After investigating the duo, police came to know that the gang was involved in a number of heists in different cities and used to sell the jewels to popular mortgage firms through lawyers. 

To escape police scanner, they opened a scrap shop in Kerala and sheltered there. While 29 sovereigns have been retrieved from them, police are expected to recover some more jewels from the gang. Further investigation is on, said police officials.