Chennai: Three men, who stole a 1.4kg gold bar from a gold-melting and testing centre in Sowcarpet and assaulted the unit’s manager, were arrested on Thursday. Police, who recovered the gold within hours of the burglary, are on the hunt for other suspects involved in the incident.It was around 1pm on Tuesday when three masked men, armed with sickles and knives, barged into the unit on the first floor of a building on Mint Street. The manager, T Ankit Dilip More, 26, of Prakasam Salai in Mannadi, and his relative, Akshit, had been attending to customers. The gang assaulted Ankit with the blunt side of a knife, snatched the gold bar and tried to flee.With the help of others at the store, Ankit managed to chase one of them down and handed him over to the Elephant Gate police, who registered a case under Section 311 of BNS.The arrested individual was identified as Arumugam alias Arun, 22, of Rajiv Gandhi Nagar in Lalgudi taluk, Trichy district. A team led by the assistant commissioner of police T Veerakumar, acting on information provided by Arumugam, traced and arrested Lokesh, 23, and Haram alias Ramana, 24, both residents of Wall Tax Road in Elephant Gate, from a house on Old Jail Road, Washermenpet. All three suspects have been remanded in judicial custody.Inquiries revealed that a person at the goldsmith unit had assisted the gang. A few more had helped with transport and clearing the route for the burglars. Investigation is under way.
