Suburban police recover 300 sovereigns of stolen jewellery

CHENNAI: The Chennai suburban commissioner's office looked like a jewellery store on Tuesday when it displayed 300 sovereigns of gold recovered from 53 different cases. While 210 sovereigns were recovered from a 30-year-old man, D Srikanth, 90 sovereigns came from a gang of six in all the seizure was worth Rs 36 lakh.

The gang had made a daring attack on Sriram Jewellers in the Ambatture Estate police station limits on July 26 and made away with 15 sovereigns of gold and injured shop assistant Vijay. The gang members were arrested from Pammal on Tuesday while they waylaid and attacked Ramasundar of Gowrivakkam. Subsequent interrogation revealed their involvement in 20 other cases of house burglary and robberies in Peerkankarai, Tambaram, Selaiyur and Madambakkam.

Suburban police commissioner SR Jangid said the gang has been active since 2003. "It was not easy to recover the jewellery the accused had sold to different shops and individuals. The investigating team has done a commendable job,'' the commissioner said.

The gang members were identified as Dinesh (24) of Choolaimedu, Subbu alias Subramani (27) of Sivaganga, Masthan alias Syeed Masthan (28) of Arumbakkam, Mohammed Jameen (27) of Madurai, Ramu alias Sivaraman (26) of Tuticorin, Ramesh (28) of Madurai. Dinesh was named as the main accused in the murder of a person called Kannan in Choolaimeedu in August this year.

The suburban police have lodged 109 persons in prison under Goondas Act this year, the commissioner added.