Rs 6.5 crores mobile phones robbery: TN cops back from MP with 10 suspects in tow

Sources said one Mohammad Abbas from Dubai had paid Rs 6.5 crores to Chauhan for the 13920 mobiles from a truck that he and his gang had hijacked.
( Express Illustration)
( Express Illustration)

KRISHNAGIRI: The scene was right out of a racy Kollywood police movie, except the fact that the heroes (read men in khaki) here sustained injuries, cuts and bruises. 

The story goes like this: Around 20 Tamil Nadu policemen, waiting in four SUVs circling a remote village, jump out of the vehicles like bullets exiting a gun upon seeing a person. The subject being discussed here is one Rajendra Chauhan alias Mama alias Kaka alias Rajen. Too many names for a suspect right? But then he has to have many. Because the crime he had committed, along with 18 of his accomplices, is big. For the uninitiated, the gang had hijacked a truck loaded with 13,920 smartphones near Shoolagiri in Krishnagiri this October.

Days later, headed by Additional Superintendent of Police S Sakthivel, 30 police personnel, including seven inspectors, police constables and Hosur DSP of Prohibition Enforcement Wing Shankar, leave for Dewas district of Madhya Pradesh and camp there for about a month.

Three weeks later, on the wee hours of November 12, 20 of the team encircle Sonkatch village where Rajendra Chauhan was hiding. Based on a tip-off, the team acts quickly. It spots Chauhan, chases him fiercely but experiences a setback. Sources said, during the chase, Constable Karthik attached with Shoolagiri police station fell down and sustained injury on his right leg. 

Meanwhile, Rajendra Chauhan began attacking the policemen with an axe-shaped weapon. However, Constable Nawas and a few other policemen managed to escape the attack and subdued Chauhan, sources said.

Superintendent of Police Bandi Gangadhar told media persons on Monday that, 10 suspects -- Bharat Tejwani (37), Ameer alias Ameerkhan (29), Bharat Aswani (36) from Indore, Rajendra Chauhan (45), Bhawani Singh (35), Kamalsingh Hada (60), Hemraj Jala (24) from Dewas district in Madhya Pradesh and three others Amitabh Dutta (39), Shajahan Mia (31) and Mohammad Jahid (26) from Tripura -- were arrested and the four trucks used in the crime were seized.

Sources said one Mohammad Abbas from Dubai had paid Rs 6.5 crores to Chauhan for the mobiles. "The mobiles were sent to places, including Delhi, Kolkata and Mumbai and were subsequently transported to Bangladesh," he said. The SP appreciated the entire team.
 

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