Chennai: The city police have picked up at least half-a-dozen migrant workers for questioning in connection with the shooting and robbery attempt at a pawnbroker’s shop in Medavakkam on Wednesday night.“The sniffer dog which was used for investigation went to the settlement of migrant workers. We are questioning them,” the police said.
Though the CCTV camera installed near the scene of crime captured an unclear image of a man wearing trousers and a gray T-shirt, his identity is not yet ascertained by the police, sources said. Three special police teams have been formed to nab the gun-wielding robber. “It is possible that the suspect could have got a gun from the gun-running gang operating in certain north Indian states where country-made guns are easily available,” police sources said.
The police sniffer dog reached the scene around 2 am on Thursday and went to the construction site settlement. Police sources said the suspect spoke in Tamil but with a north Indian accent. “He demanded Rs 5 lakh from pawnbroker Sunil Lal alias Sunil Kumar, 45, and when the shop-owner refused to pay up, he opened fire around 9 pm on Wednesday at the shop located on the Velachery–Tambaram road,” police sources said.
Sunil Lal suffered a bullet injury on his left shoulder. The bullet was surgically removed on Thursday and the pellets sent for forensic testing. The police say that the man took out the revolver, most probably country-made, in a flash, and opened fire after which Sunil Lal fell unconscious. The gunman, in his early 20s, fled the scene in a waiting autorickshaw immediately after the shooting incident. The number plate of the vehicle was covered with cowdung, police sources said. Sunil Lal was later admitted to a private hospital where he underwent surgery on Thursday.
