Business rivalry is reportedly behind the 'gold snatching' incident that took place in Thiruvananthapuram on November 12.

Two men on a two-wheeler allegedly snatched gold worth over ₹2 crore from Nandakumar, the owner of Vaishnavi Jewellers, in the middle of a deserted street in the capital city. Till now six men have been arrested and the police have retrieved 448 grams of gold from them. The victim, however, testified that he had 2 kg of gold with him.

Three men involved in the heist were nabbed from Padinjarethara in Wayanad the very next day on November 13. Two others - Amul and Dileep - were taken into custody from Thiruvananthapuram. Police said that Amul was a former associate of Nandakumar. Dileep, like Amul, is also a small-time gold trader functioning out of Chalai. On Sunday, police took Jayaram, the owner of Malavika Jewellers in Chalai, into custody. He is also said to be part of the conspiracy.

According to the police, all three were uncomfortable with the growth of Nandakumar's business and had contracted a criminal gang to conduct the heist that they reckoned would undermine Nandakumar's business. Nandakumar, who is originally from Maharashtra, had started his business in Chalai three decades ago, and had begun very modestly like these three.

He started from a small one-room shop nearby Amul's house in Chalai, one of the oldest trading streets in Keralam and right across the city square from the entrance to the Sree Padmanabha Swamy Temple. His firm provided purity verification and evaluation services for precious metals like gold and silver.

But, unlike the others, Nandakumar was both enterprising and adventurous. He was not satisfied with just testing and minor remodelling works. He began to purchase old gold from small-time jewellers at a higher cost than small-timers like Amul or Dileep could ever dream of. He polished this gold, improved its purity, took money on loan and employed gold artisans to remodel them into trendy designs. Big jewellers began to place orders for such designs. As his business grew, Nandakumar also stocked up on gold alloys, which again was in high demand among top gold jewellers in Keralam. This brought in another flow of revenue to his operations.

But the businesses of others who started almost along with him, particularly Amul, who was once his associate, did not prosper the way Nandakumar's did. Their growth in business was less than even moderate. Amul's shop, Attukal Gold and Silver Testing, still functions from the same dingy shop in Chalai.

A top police source said that the accused had information that Nandakumar had struck an agreement with a "money bag" in Kayamkulam to sell a large quantity of gold alloy. "They calculated that if they could scuttle the deal, it could harm Nandakumar's trustworthiness and destroy his future prospects," the police source said. "Secrecy and prompt delivery are the passwords to thrive in this business," the senior officer said.

To carry out the heist, Amul is said to have given the contract to a crime-sheeter named Anoop Raj. Anoop sublet the job to another serial offender named Anil Prasad alias Shadow Ani, who in turn employed a man named Shravan as the 'spotter', a term used by those in the illegal gold trade for those who do the recce and pass on information to the gang waiting to carry out the rip-off. The 'spotter' kept a close watch on Nandakumar's movements for over a week.

"The gang realised that Nandakumar would take out the gold only on the night before he would take it to his client. The gang had no idea who the client was, and so they had to get hold of the gold the moment Nandakumar took it out of his shop. We suspect that the gang had inside information," the police source said. Some of Nandakumar's staff are also under the scanner.

Amul is said to have even deposited 15 g of gold in Nandakumar's shop the day before the robbery. "Perhaps the gang wanted Nandakumar to take the gold out of his shop as early as possible. Amul's move was an attempt to expedite the transfer of gold. Once they accumulate enough gold for the transaction, it is usual for such traders to hand it over to the client without delay. It is a safety precaution," the source said.

On the night of November 12, Nandakumar closed his shop and got into his two-wheeler. That day he had a bag with him. 'Spotter' Shravan sensed that it was the gold the gang was gunning for. He promptly informed the gang and followed Nandakumar at a safe distance to make sure that he took the usual route. Any change in route would have been instantly conveyed to the gang waiting in the shadows.

According to the police, as Nandakumar passed through a deserted narrow street, two bikes zoomed close to him, pressed him to the edges, and a man riding pillion on one bike grabbed the bag. Riding pillion behind Shadow Ani was Antony Vinod. There is no information about the men in the other bike.

Ani and Vinod, who had the gold with them abandoned the bike and got into a car, a Mahindra XUV, which the police said was registered in Anoop Raj's name. The gang took a circuitous route to throw the police off the scent.

The police team led by City Police Commissioner Arul B Krishna quickly scanned the CCTV visuals along the road that Nandakumar would take and secured the visuals of the heist. The registration number of one of the bikes threw up a match: Anil Prasad alias Shadow Ani.

Ani's name was in the police records for various minor and major offences, including drug possession. There was confirmation that the bike belonged to him on Ani's WhatsApp DP. It featured the same Honda 350 CC bike.

Ani's picture, which was already in the police records, was passed through the entire police network in South India. This allowed the police to trace the gang's movements through the various toll booths in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. Toll booths, too, were provided with Ani's pictures. Police said that the gang avoided border check posts by riding through secret unmanned paths. Eventually, they sneaked back into Wayanad through Mysuru.

A special team from Thiruvananthapuram rounded the gang when they were about to check into a resort at Padinjarethara in Wayanad. Shravan bolted from the scene, but the other three - Shadow Ani, Antony Vinod and Anoop Raj - were apprehended after "some use of force". Another person, Rajeev, whom the gang had contacted to secure for them a safe place at night, was also in the vehicle. But he was let off after a preliminary interrogation. Shravan, the 'spotter' is still absconding.