A special team of the Villupuram police arrested five persons including an assistant professor late on Wednesday, in Chittoor in Andhra Pradesh for allegedly robbing a businessman of his bag that contained diamond-studded jewellery worth ₹2 crore.
The arrested have been identified as Manikandan, 31, an assistant professor in a B.Ed college in Chittoor and K. Paranthaman, 29, Arul Murugan, 24, P. Mahesh, 21 and S. Vijay Sekar, 31, all hailing from Villupuram district.
According to police, the complainant Karunanidhi, 43, a businessman of Aasrankuppam in the district, his friends Ravanan and Prahalanathan were travelling in an SUV to sell diamond-studded jewellery in Mailam on September 13. When they reached Gopalapuram near Mailam, a gang intercepted their vehicle and threw chilli powder on the eyes of Karunanidhi and his friends, and fled with the jewellery.
The police verified phone calls made to Karunanidhi and zeroed in on two middlemen, Arul Murugan and Senthil, both from Chennai. The two were picked up, and the police tracked the usage history of the suspects’ mobile phones. The police found that the duo had called some local contacts of theirs, all of them in Chittoor in Andhra Pradesh. After sustained investigations, the police established their involvement in the robbery.
Police said Arul Murugan and Senthil were assisted by their accomplices -- Manikandan, Paranthaman, Arul Murugan, Mahesh and Vijay Sekar.
