On November 25 night, the Chennai City Police arrested Ramesh (36) and Karan Khatri (32) near Gummidipoondi bus depot in connection with a robbery that happened in an actor's house on November 10 when they looted nearly 220 sovereigns of gold and Rs 2 lakh cash. The incident happened at Kollywood actor Radhakrishnan alias RK’s house in the Defence Colony area of Nandambakkam in Chennai when he was out for work. Radhakrishnan and his family members live in an independent house.
On November 10, around 6.30 pm, two Nepal nationals assaulted Raji, Radhakrishnan's wife, and tied her to a chair in the house before looting jewels and cash. Both men involved in the robbery followed the instructions given by Thabal Bahadur Khatri alias Ramesh, a Nepal national who was working as a security guard in Radhakrishnan's house for the last 6 months. Earlier that day, Thabal had asked permission from Raji to visit a hospital for treatment but didn't return to work later.
Police arrested eight members, including two women in connection with the case. Along with Ramesh and Karan, police booked 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 (lurking house-trespass or house-breaking by night in order to commit offence), 394 (voluntarily causing hurt in committing robbery), 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code. Among the eight accused, Pancho alone hails from Arunachal Pradesh while the rest are from Nepal.
Three of the accused
Initial investigations revealed that Ramesh closely watched the family's wealth and business dealings of RK. Ramesh also came to know that most of the time Raji would be alone in her house since he was given a room inside their residence. Ramesh also kept track of when RK went outstation for work and Divya, daughter of RK and Raji, left for her work. Ramesh planned to loot the house but thought that he could not do it all by himself. So Ramesh and his accomplice Krishna Savath, who is still on the run, planned to steal the jewels and money from RK's house. They hatched the whole plot in a TASMAC outlet for several weeks. Krishna worked as a security guard at a hotel in Thousand Lights.
At the police station, the accused confessed that for the robbery, they called their friends from Nepal. According to police, Karan, Subash, Santhosh and Krishna Bogar from different parts of Nepal arrived in Chennai on November 5 and stayed with Krishna Savath. Six members again met in a TASMAC on November 8 to discuss what should be done in the following days. The next day, Ramesh shared the location and identified the house to the other five members. Meanwhile, Krishna Savath informed his plans to two Nepali nationals who were working in Chennai. Krishna Savath talked to Pushkar, a gardener at an advocate office in MRC Nagar, and Sankar, a security guard who worked in Gopalapuram, to make sure that the robbers got hideaways after executing their robbery plot.
As per their plan, Ramesh invited both Karan and Subash on November 10 early morning around 5 am to stay in his room. Karan and Subash brought ropes and a plaster to restrain Raji. Divya left for her office around 10 am and after a 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. Once they entered the house, Ramesh asked permission from Raji to leave saying that he was sick and wanted to visit a doctor and left the premises.
Karan and Subash assaulted Raji, tied her in a bedroom, and threatened to kill her if she resisted. After fetching the locker keys, the duo looted jewels and money and left RK's house. Meanwhile, Krishna Savath, Bogar, and Santhosh waited 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 looted. He lodged a complaint at the Nandambakkam police station. The police officers suspected Ramesh as he went missing on the day the incident took place. Police checked the CCTV footage where they found Ramesh roaming with some of his friends earlier that day and launched a hunt to nab Ramesh and his accomplices. Chennai police formed eight special teams to apprehend the accused. Based on a tip-off, on November 25, they arrested Ramesh and Karan. The eight persons were remanded to police custody on November 26.
Nadambakkam police told TNM that only half of the gold jewellery has been recovered and they are yet to arrest four accused viz. Krishna Savath, Krishna Bogar, Subash, and Santhosh. Police said that they are making efforts to nab the absconding accused.