COIMBATORE: IN A daring highway robbery, a gang of burglars, some of them donning police uniform, waylaid a group of employees of a jewellery retailer as they were travelling in a car along the L&T Bypass near Madukkarai in the outskirts of Coimbatore and decamped with `3.9 crore along with the vehicle.
Curiously, the complaint filed by the victims had no mention of the cash that was being carried in the vehicle, although it did state that a car worth `3 lakh was stolen. However, sources from the rural police told Express that the huge sum of cash had also been looted.
The incident occured in the wee hours of Thursday, when the employees of a Malapuram-based jewellery manufacturing unit, identified as Mohammed, Museer, Anand and Seshaas, were travelling from Malapuram to Chennai via Coimbatore.
According to police, the group was waylaid by a five-member gang, three of whom were in police uniform. After accompanying the victims in their vehicle for a short distance, the gang forced them out and sped away with the car as well as the huge sum of cash in it.
The victims subsequently alerted their employer and registered a complaint with the Coimbatore district police.
District Superintendent of Police RV Ramya Bharathi, who visited the spot, confirmed that the complaint was filed, adding that a probe was on. The highway where the robbery took place has been a hotspot for unaccounted cash seizures by police over the past year.