In a swift operation, Madurai rural district police have arrested 3 persons and recovered ₹2.5 crore robbed from a jeweller, S. Dharmaraj, 61, after kidnapping him near Tirumangalam on Sunday.
The police identified the accused as his driver Praveen Kumar and his friends Arun Kumar and Alex Pandian.
The police said that Dharmaraj was running a jewellery shop at Arasaradi in Madurai city.
He used to go to Nagercoil for purchasing gold.
On Sunday too, he left for Nagercoil with ₹2.5 crore in his car along with his employee Govindaraj, 50, and Praveen Kumar.
When the car was proceeding near Nesaneri near Tirumangalam, Praveen Kumar had stopped the car on the pretext of attending nature’s call at 1.15 p.m.
Along with him, Govindaraj also got down, leaving Mr. Dharmaraj in the car.
Even as both of them walked towards the road margin, two persons got into the car and fled away in the vehicle along with the jeweller.
The duo, after threatening Dharmaraj at knife point, dumped him at Athipatti near Sedapatti and escaped in the same car.
Mr. Dharmaraj got a mobile phone from a shepherd and alerted the police.
Madurai district police formed special teams and launched a manhunt for the accused.
Meanwhile, the police found the car abandoned.
During interrogation, the police found that the driver had masterminded the robbery and based on certain clues, the police arrested the duo along with the cash.
