COIMBATORE: An eight-member gang of dacoits, comprising students from higher educational institutions situated near Eachanari, was arrested by Madukkarai police.
Police said that on Wednesday night, three labourers were watching a FIFA World Cup match on their mobile phone while standing in front of their rented house when four persons armed with weapons approached them and threatened them, demanding that they hand over all their belongings, warning of serious consequences if they refused to do so. When the victims resisted, the accused forcibly pushed all three into their house and invited four more associates to the spot. The gang then assaulted one of the victims on the head using a dosa pan found inside the house and robbed them of four mobile phones, a laptop and a Rolex watch before fleeing from the spot. The injured person was admitted to the hospital.
Based on the complaint lodged by the victims, a case was registered at Madukkarai police station on Thursday, morning. Superintendent of Police A Pavan Kumar Reddy ordered the formation of a special team to investigate the case. During the course of the investigation, the police on Friday surrounded the gang near Madukkarai and arrested them.
The arrested were identified as M Saran (20), S Santhosh Sri (19) and C Harish (19) of Virudhunagar district, S Ashok (21) of Madurai, S Abhishek (18) from Paramakkudi and K Ajay (18), M Kannan (20) and M Nithish (19) from Ramanathapuram district. Four were studying at three private engineering colleges at Eachanari, while four others were students of a higher education institution near Eachanari. The police also recovered the stolen objects and remanded the suspects to prison. The college authorities were also informed.