2 members of notorious gang that robbed banks, shops nabbed in Chittoor

Chittoor: The Chittoor district police arrested two members of a notorious gang of thieves in south India on Saturday. They seized cash, gold, and silver worth Rs. 55 lakhs and three cars from them.

Chittoor district SP Y. Rishanth Reddy took up the case of theft in a paan shop in under the Gangadhara Nellore police station limits. Chittoor Rural East circle inspector K. Maddayachari, SI M. Anil Kumar, Penumuru, and U. Pratap Reddy formed a team under the supervision of Chittoor DSP K. Srinivasa Murthy.

On reliable information, the team caught M. Murugan Sivaguru alias Karate Muruga and M. Raja near the Cherlapally area between Bengaluru–Tirupati on 9 December. The police recovered Rs. 15 lakhs cash, 395 grams of gold ornaments, 6 kgs of silver, and three cars.

"During our investigation, we learned that the two accused, along with their gang, have been roaming around in different states of south India for the past 15 years, involved in thefts at banks, jewellery shops, and houses," said Chittoor district superintendent of police Y. Rishanth Reddy.

While the other gang members were arrested once or twice in different crime cases, Murugan Sivaguru, the gang leader, had managed to escape from the Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala, and Pondicherry police in the last 10 years. Murugan established his base in Chhattisgarh and used to commit crimes along with his gang and return to Chhattisgarh to hide.

There are 42 pending cases against Murugan and Raja in four states. The gang also committed theft under Chittoor town and Airala police station limits.