Kancheepuram burglary: Relative of victim among 3 arrested

CHENNAI: Four days after two women were robbed of their valuables in Kancheepuram, police have arrested three men including a relative of one of the victims.
The accused were identified as Santhanakrishnan, 28, Gautham, 26 and Sivakumar, 29 from Salavakkam.
Meganathan, an auditor and his brother Srinivasan stay in the same house in Mamallan Nagar in Kancheepuram. Santhanakrishnan is a distant relative of Srinivasan.
On December 22 afternoon when the wives of Meganathan and Srinivasan were alone at the house, a gang of three men barged in. They tied the women up and escaped with over 50 sovereigns of gold, Rs 5 lakh cash and 1kg silver.
Police who reached the spot checked the CCTV footage and found the involvement of Santhanakrishnan.
Police said Srinivasan runs a coaching centre for TNPSC preparations and Santhanakrishnan works as an assistant to him. He had often visited the house and noticed the valuables locked in a room. Along with his friends, Santhanakrishnan hatched a plan to rob the valuables and escape town.
He knew that the women would be alone in the house and always left the doors unlocked. He chose the afternoon for the crime as he knew that they would be busy watching TV and it was easy for them to gain entry, police said.
The Kancheepuram Taluk police registered a case and arrested the accused. The police seized 44 sovereigns of gold, 33 grams of silver and Rs 1.20 lakh cash. They have been remanded in judicial custody.