Two persons were presented before the judicial magistrate in Trichy and were remanded to judicial custody for 14 days in connection with the Lalithaa Jewellery robbery case in Tiruvarur. According to the New Indian Express, the two arrested are 34-year-old Manikandan and 57-year-old Kanagavalli. 

The robbery was carried out in the wee hours of October 2, where the burglars drilled a hole into the store’s sidewall to enter. They wore gloves so that they don’t leave fingerprints and also sprinkled chilli powder to throw sniffer dogs off their scent. Earlier last week, CCTV footage which went viral showed two men — wearing a dog and cat mask — robbing the jewellery store. The men entered the ground floor of the store after surveying the surroundings. One man held the duffel bag while another carefully broke into the jewellery display and removed necklace after necklace from the mannequin.

The two accused have been identified as 45-year-old Tiruvarur Murugan and his nephew, Suresh. 

On October 3, Manikandan had tried to escape with 4.25kg of stolen jewellery with Suresh, one of the two people said to have carried out the robbery. They were on a bike, but after the police chased them, Suresh, the pillion rider, escaped. Kanagavalli, Suresh’s mother and Murugan’s elder sister, was remanded with 450g of jewellery.

Manikandan and Kanakavalli have been accused of criminal conspiracy and abetting the crime, reported the Times of India. Suresh and Tiruvarur Murugan’s names as key accused were revealed during Manikandan and Kanakavalli’s interrogation. 

According to the Hindustan Times, an investigating officer said that Murugan is a history-sheeter with over 150 dacoity cases pending against him in three south Indian states. 

Following the heist, seven teams were formed by city police commissioner A Amalraj to catch the robbers. The two had left all the silver ornaments and had made away with gold, diamond and platinum ornaments.