Salem, Tamil Nadu — Two men accused of stealing 3 kg of gold jewellery worth Rs3 crore from a private bus have been arrested, police said on Thursday.
The accused have been identified as:
V Balasubramaniam (52) from Coimbatore
S Merija (28) from Cuddalore
The theft took place in the early hours of Tuesday near the Vaikuntam toll gate, close to Sankari in Salem. A private bus carrying 24 passengers was en route from Coimbatore to Puducherry when the incident happened.
Jewellery shop employee M Shankar (45) from Coimbatore, who was transporting the gold, realized his bag was missing after reboarding the bus.
The Sankari police, under the guidance of SP Gautam Goyal, formed three special teams to investigate. Using CCTV footage from the bus and toll plaza, they traced the suspects.
It emerged that both men had worked for Srinivasan, a Coimbatore jewellery shop owner, but had resigned six months prior. They allegedly monitored jewellery shipments from the shop to Puducherry and Cuddalore and tracked buses used by employees.
Following their confession, police arrested the duo in Coimbatore and recovered the stolen gold from Balasubramaniam’s residence. Both were remanded to judicial custody and lodged in Salem Central Prison.
