Mohanambal had surrendered in a Vellore court on Monday
Chennai: Mohanambal, the 50-year-old Karagattam dancer turned queen of the lucrative red sanders smuggling, is a hard nut to crack, according to the police team probing the recent haul of Rs 4.04 crore in cash and 73 sovereigns of gold from her house.
“She would point to her bandaged leg when we asked her questions (about the source of her wealth). And she would demand food only from high-end hotels in Vellore”, said an officer in exasperation at not being able to get anything substantial from her at the end of the three-day police remand that ended on Friday.
Police questioned Mohanambal and her sister Nirmala about the booty recovered from her locked house at Tharapadavedu village near Katpadi on May 25. They also wanted to know the whereabouts of Nirmala’s son Saravanan, said to be an important member of their crime syndicate. He is also wanted by the police in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh for cases relating to wildlife poaching and smuggling of red sanders.
Mohanambal too was underground for nearly two weeks when she underwent a knee surgery at a private hospital in Chennai. She surrendered in a Vellore court on Monday, from where the police obtained her remand for three days. It appears that these three days did not yield much for the probe team.
“While Mohanambal kept pointing to her bandaged knee, her sister Nirmala kept saying she’s having chest pain”, said the officer in the team. But when it came to food, the Karagattam dancer was very choosy and demanded the best fare possible in Vellore. “She named a popular restaurant and wanted us to get her idlis and dosas only from there; for her lunch and dinner, she had a list of choice hotels”.
