House help, 4 others held for robbing bank official, wife

The 51-year-old househelp, Rani alias Maharani, had poisoned two dogs in the house two weeks prior to ensure that her accomplices could operate smoothly.

The police have seized 133-sovereign gold, three mobile phones and two knives from them. 

The others arrested have been identified as P Arun Kumar (30) a resident of Nagapattinam, D Suresh (26), R Selvam (28) and A Goutham (21) from Madurai. 

On Sunday, the gang broke into the house of Repco bank chief general manager Senthamizh Yogeswaran (55). He was inside the house with his wife Subbu Lakshmi while their servant maid Maharani was stationed near the gate. The masked gang had ‘tied up’ Maharani, threatened the couple at knifepoint and tied them up before escaping with the gold. 

The Pallavaram police formed special teams and during the enquiry, the police suspected Maharani who gave contradictory statements. Later, however, she owned up to the crime. 

The police said that Yogeswaran’s daughter was living in Madurai after the marriage. Since Yogeswaran’s wife was unwell, Maharani who was their daughter’s neighbour was hired to take care of Subbu Lakshmi. Apparently, she did her job well and earned the family’s trust after coming to know of the gold stored in the house.

“Maharani decided to rob the gold and started with poisoning the dogs two weeks before the attack and contacted her sister-in-law’s son Arun Kumar,” an officer said. 

And as per the plan on Sunday, Arun Kumar and three of his friends entered the house and robbed the couple. After the loot, the group had fled to Coimbatore in a taxi. They had also sold a few of the ornaments and spent Rs 90,000 there.