Earthmover among recovered items worth Rs 5.56 crore returned to owners

City police commissioner Shankar Jiwal on Wednesday handed over properties worth Rs 5.56 crore retrieved in different theft and robbery cases in all four zones of Greater Chennai Police jurisdiction to the respective owners.

Among the valuables are 2,419.72 grams of gold jewellery, 1,463 mobile phones, 183 two-wheelers, 12 autorickshaws, and 46 four-wheelers including three earthmovers.

The earthmovers belonged to Ramamoorthy, a retired central government employee, who had bought three earthmovers on loan during his service.

He had given them to one Srinivasan in February for a monthly rental of Rs 50,000. After Srinivasan allegedly went absconding after paying rent for just one month, Ramamoorthy could not follow up due to COVID curbs.

On Monday, he approached Madhavaram police and the probe revealed that Srinivasan gave the earthmovers to one Riyaz Bhai in June itself in return for Rs 1.20 lakh. Police picked up Riyaz Bhai and recovered all three earthmovers.