BENGALURU: In a proactive operation by the Kumaraswamy Layout police, a gang of three who had killed a lorry driver and was involved in several incidents of robbing lorry drivers, was nabbed by three police personnel posing as truck drivers and cleaners.
After the November 3 murder of Bhaskar, a 44-year-old lorry driver, police had maintained vigil and observed a spate of robberies targeting lorry drivers. DCP (South) K Annamalai formed a special team to track down the accused. Three policemen, including an assistant commissioner of police, posed as sand lorry drivers and cleaners for days, sleeping in the cabins of two lorries in a parking bay on Ring Road, near Kumaraswamy Layout.
A few policemen maintained watch from a distance to rush support to the sting team.
On Tuesday night, the gang of three walked into the trap. They prowled around the parking bay and targeted one of the lorries occupied by the cops in disguise. As they were about to strike, the trio — Syed Touhid alias Varada, 28, a resident of Kanakanagar in KS Layout, Mudassir, 21, of Yelachenahalli and Syed Salman, 24, of Iliyas Nagar — were caught red-handed by the disguised cops, and taken into custody by policemen waiting on the sidelines. The accused are said to be drivers and daily wage labourers.
A senior police officer said a couple of robberies had taken place in the first week of November, in which hapless drivers lost money in the range of Rs 2,000-3,000 and had called the police control room. But they did not file complaints as the robbers had threatened to kill them if they did.
On November 3, Bhaskar was found murdered inside the truck parked in Talaghattapura. The assailants had taken away cash and other valuables after killing him.
During interrogation, the accused confessed to killing Bhaskar before taking his money. When police examined the mobile tower locations of the accused’s mobile phones, they were found in the lorry parking bay area whenever the crimes were reported. Besides, the drivers who had been robbed earlier, identified them.
The trio revealed to police that they had targeted lorry drivers as most of them were from other states and would be wary of filing police cases as this would affect their delivery services.
Varada involved in Mukarram shooting case
On December 29, 2008, Syed Touhid, alias Varada, then 18, was with 19-year-old Mohammad Mukarram Pasha, the night the latter was shot dead by Army guards when he unknowingly ran into the Army Service Corpos (ASC) Commandant’s residential area, off Trinity Circle, a restricted area. The two were being chased by night beat constables when they were were popping wheelies on MG Road. They abandoned their bike, and while Varada had run the other way, an unsuspecting Pasha had jumped into the Brigadier’s residential compound. Varada had tried to barge into the military gate but couldn’t. The guard deployed at the premises noticed Pasha and shot the boy dead when he jumped from the roof and ran to escape the guards.