The Hindu : Heist, killings leave Vellore in panic

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Apr 20, 2003

Southern States

Southern States - Tamil Nadu

Heist, killings leave Vellore in panic

By P.V.V. Murthi

VELLORE April 19. Panic gripped Vellore town today, in the wake of last night's dacoity at a jewellery shop in Main Bazaar and fatal shootings in the presence of the public and a beat traffic constable. Three persons, including the owner and an employee of the shop, were shot dead by the dacoits in the incident, first of its kind in the history of the town, which occurred not very far from the Vellore North Police Station.

The police are still trying to unravel the identity of the culprits, who fled abandoning a motorcycle, on which they escaped at Karasamangalam, near Katpadi. It is suspected they could have disappeared into Andhra Pradesh.

K. P. Mahendran, Inspector-General, Law and Order, North Zone, who came here today, told presspersons that two Tamil-speaking persons, in the age group 25-30 and with a fair complexion, entered the Naga Jewel Palace and asked for a one-and-a-half-sovereign necklace. When Thirumalai (20), one of the employees, went out to fetch the jewel from another shop, the dacoits asked N. Srinivasan alias Subha (38), owner of the shop, to hand over money to them. When he refused, he was shot dead. Then his brother, N. Rajendra Babu, asked another brother, N. Rajesh, to bring the money. But even as Rajesh brought the cash and placed it on a table before the dacoits, both of them were shot at with a revolver.

As they ran out with the booty of jewels and cash, the dacoits flaunting the revolver, threatened the members of the public to keep away. Thirumalai, who chased them up to the Palace Cafe junction, was shot dead when he tried to snatch the jewel bag from the dacoits.

Then, the dacoits, asked motorcycle-borne Ramu (32), a teacher in the Siddhartha Senior Secondary School, who was waiting for signal clearance at the Palace Cafe junction, to hand over his vehicle. When he refused, the dacoits shot him dead and escaped on the vehicle.

A traffic reserve sub-inspector, Kulasekharan, chased the culprits but he could not go very far as a bus blocked his way, said N. Rajasekharan, Superintendent of Police.

Mr. Mahendran said five empty cartridges were recovered from the scenes of crime. Six teams led by DSPs and inspectors were formed to nab the culprits. ``We are investigating the crime from various angles, including the terrorist angle, the hand of People's War activists from Andhra Pradesh and any personal motive against the jewellery shopowner'', he said to a question whether the crime could be the handiwork of terrorists.

All police stations on the escape routes in the district were alerted. Fingerprints were obtained from the glasspanes of the shop and the recovered motorcycle, which was used by the culprits.

Mr. Mahendran advised jewellers to instal a closed-circuit television system in their shops. The police would explore the possibility of ensuring quick communication during such crimes in jewellery shops, possibly with a hotmail link to the nearest station, he said. Meanwhile, all jewellery shops in Main Bazaar and on Gandhi Road here were closed by the owners to protest the incident and as a mark of respect to the memory of Srinivasan.

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