A bike-borne gang robbed a jewellery shop owner of a bag of gold in Thiruvananthapuram's busy Chalai commercial hub late on Wednesday night, in a heist reported by Onmanorama among the latest Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram headlines.

Source: Onmanorama via World News Garden

The incident occurred around 11 pm on Wednesday along Sabhapathi Kovil Road. Nandakumar, owner of Vaishnavi Jewellery in Chala, was returning home to Valiyasala on his two-wheeler after closing the shop when a two-member gang on a motorcycle trailed him and snatched the bag, The Indian Messenger reported. Three people — the owner, his son and a staff member — had been inside the shop at closing time.

Source: The Indian Messenger

What is solid

  • A bike-borne gang snatched a gold bag from Vaishnavi Jewellery owner Nandakumar near Chalai late Wednesday night
  • Fort Police have registered a case and are hunting for the gang using CCTV footage

What is only claimed

  • How much gold was in the bag: the owner's formal police statement says 250 sovereigns (about 2 kg) after a stock check; early reports put it near 100 sovereigns, and some later reports carried the owner as saying only 15 sovereigns

Fort Police have registered a case and launched an intensive manhunt based on CCTV footage from the area. No arrest had been reported at the time of these reports.

The Chalai robbery came within the same 24 hours as a major jewellery theft at a newly opened Tanishq showroom in Madurai, Tamil Nadu, and the two cases together have sharpened concern among jewellery traders in the region, according to reports tracking both investigations.