CHENNAI: In a scene straight out of a pot-boiler, a gang’s Rs 2.5 crore gold heist near Todd Hunter Road in Saidapet, on Anna Salai, was thwarted after one of the six gang members was caught by the passersby leading to the arrest of four others, on Wednesday. Dramatically, three motorcycles intercepted the car in the signal near Todd Hunter Road while the car, which was carrying about 10 kg of gold jewellery to the Airport to be shipped to Mumbai by employees of ‘Jai Matha Ji’, a logistics service operating from Sowcarpet, around 11.45 pm on Tuesday.
The red Maruti Swift was driven by Virender (27), while Rattan and Sandeep — both employees of the private courier firm who were guarding the high-value asset in transit sensed foul play and immediately alerted the police control room seeking assistance.
The bikers charged the car driver in a fictitious hit-and-run reported sometime ago in which a child was injured badly and forced the occupants to turnaround the car to the cooked-up accident spot.
As the ruckus was visible and loud enough for the other motorists, passersby gathered around to take a peek as to what was happening. As the gang closed in on the occupants and began assaulting them, one of the gang members pulled out a package and tried to flee when the alert passersby caught hold of him along with the package. The timing was perfect for the night patrol vehicle to arrive and the gang member caught was identified as Senthil Kumar (29) of Choolaimedu.
Based on the inputs from Senthil, cops managed to arrest Selvakumar (21) of Vadapalani, Ashok Kumar (34) of Choolaimedu, Prasad (30) of Kodambakkam and Manikandan (31) of Tambaram sanatorium, while one of the six — Douglas is still at large. Two of the five held were MBA students.
Preliminary investigations revealed that the arrested were acting at the behest of one Ahmed Ghouse alias Taufiq (33), who also runs a business from Sowcarpet, and is absconding since the report of the incident.
“The jewellery were actually being collected in small quantities from various jewellers and were being sent to Mumbai for sale through the private courier service. It is an open secret in the entire neighbourhood. However, we suspect that one of the shop-keepers who is also missing since morning might have tipped off Abdul about the huge consignment,” said a senior police official privy to the investigation. A hunt to nab others involved in the robbery bid is on while the arrested quintet have already been remanded to judicial custody.