On November 10, nearly 220 sovereigns of gold and Rs 2 lakh cash were stolen from the house of Kollywood actor Radhakrishnan alias RK in Defense Colony area of Nandambakkam.
On the evening of November 25, the Chennai city police arrested Ramesh (36) and Karan Khatri (32) near Gummidipoondi bus stand in connection with the robbery that took place at the actor’s house on November 10 when they looted nearly 220 sovereign gold and 2 lakh Rs. cash. The incident took place at Kollywood actor Radhakrishnan alias RK’s house in Nandambakkam Defense Colony area of Chennai when he was out for work. Radhakrishnan and his family members live in a detached house.
On November 10 at around 6:30 p.m., two Nepali nationals attacked Raji, Radhakrishnan’s wife, and tied her to a chair in the house before stealing jewelry and money. The two men involved in the robbery were following the instructions of Thabal Bahadur Khatri alias Ramesh, a Nepali national who had been working as a security guard at Radhakrishnan’s house for the past 6 months. Earlier that day, Thabal had asked Raji for permission to visit the hospital for treatment, but he later did not return to work.
Police have arrested eight members, including two women, in connection with the case. Along with Ramesh and Karan, the police charged Sankar (37); Durga (35), wife of Sankar; Pushkar Bahadur (40); Bishnu (37), wife of Pushkar; Pancho (28); and Padam Savath (23) under sections 341 (punishment for wrongful restraint), 457 (creeping a house or housebreaking by night with intent to commit an offence), 394 (willfully causing damage in robbery), 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code. Among the eight accused, only Pancho hails from Arunachal Pradesh while the rest are from Nepal.
The three accused
In TASMAC, plans were made for several weeks
Initial investigations revealed that Ramesh was closely monitoring the family wealth and business dealings of RK. Ramesh also learned that Raji was alone in her house most of the time as he got a room in their residence. Ramesh also monitored when RK went to work outside the station and RK and Raji’s daughter Divya went to work. Ramesh planned to loot the house but felt that he would not be able to do it alone. So Ramesh and his accomplice Krishna Savath, who is still on the run, planned to steal jewels and money from RK’s house. The whole plot was planned at the TASMAC sales point for several weeks. Krishna worked as a security guard at a hotel in Thousand Lights.
At the police station, the accused admitted that they called their friends from Nepal for the robbery. According to the police, Karan, Subash, Santhosh and Krishna Bogar from different parts of Nepal reached Chennai on November 5 and stayed at Krishna Savath. The six members reconvened at TASMAC on 8 November to discuss what should be done in the coming days. The next day, Ramesh shared the location and identified the house to the other five members. Meanwhile, Krishna Savath informed two Nepalese nationals who were working in Chennai about his plans. Krishna Savath spoke to Pushkar, a gardener at a law firm in MRC Nagar, and Sankar, a security guard working in Gopalapuram, to ensure that the robbers would find hideouts after carrying out their heist plan.
How the robbery was carried out
As per their plan, Ramesh invited Karan and Subash to stay in his room early in the morning of November 10 around 5 am. Karan and Subash brought ropes and a patch to restrain Raji. Divya went to her office around 10 am and after few hours RK also left the house. When the trio learned that Raji was alone, Ramesh opened the side door of the house for Karan and Subash to enter. When they entered the house, Ramesh asked Raji for permission to leave, saying he was sick and wanted to see a doctor, and left the premises.
Karan and Subash attacked Raji, tied her up in the bedroom and threatened to kill her if she resisted. After bringing the locker keys, the duo stole the jewels and money and left RK’s house. Meanwhile, Krishna Savath, Bogar and Santhosh were waiting outside the house in an auto rickshaw to help the robbers escape from the spot.
When RK returned to his house around 7.30 pm, he found his wife tied with ropes and his house ransacked. He filed a complaint at Nandambakkam police station. The police suspected Ramesh as he had gone missing on the day of the incident. Police checked the CCTV footage the previous day where they found Ramesh wandering with some of his friends and started hunting Ramesh and his accomplices. Chennai Police formed eight special teams to nab the accused. Acting on a tip-off, Ramesh and Karan were arrested on November 25. On November 26, eight people were ordered into police custody.
Nadambakkam police told TNM that they have recovered only half of the gold jewelery and are yet to arrest the four accused viz. Krishna Savath, Krishna Bogar, Subash and Santhosh. The police have announced that efforts are being made to arrest the absconding accused.
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