TIRUCHY: In a hot pursuit, a police team chased a miscreant who was on the run after hijacking a lorry from a rice mill in Mannapparai on Saturday night. The chase lasted for almost 60 kms, from Manapparai till Gandhi Market area, in Tiruchy city.
Fortunately, no one was injured in the road rage incident.
According to Police sources, 47-year-old Nagappan of Muthudaiyanpatti village in Manapparai, owns a rice mill near Tiruchy-Dindigul National Highway.
On Saturday evening, the lorry was parked near the rice mill premises as the driver had gone for lunch. A few minutes later, Kumar, the accountant of the rice mill, noticed someone was starting the parked lorry. Alarmed by the incident, Kumar chased the lorry in his two-wheeler.
When the accused reduced the truck's speed near Samuthiram railway crossing, Kumar board the vehicle from behind without being noticed by the accused.
Hiding in the loading area, Kumar informed about the lorry theft and the whereabouts to Nagappan and also to the Manapparai police station. On information about the incident, all the borders of Manapparai were alerted about the missing lorry. Later, it was found that an unknown accused person is going towards Tiruchy Madurai NH through Viralimalai.
The alleged miscreant drove the lorry in a rash manner while travelling on the Tiruchy-Madurai National Highway.
Subsequently, information was passed on to Manikandam police and a team was kept ready in Manikandam area. Smashing through the automatic barrier at Viralimalai toll plaza, the accused person operated the vehicle toward Tiruchy city.
Speaking to The New Indian Express, Senthil Kumar, Police official from Manikandam station said, ''Knowing that the accused person is operating in through the Tiruchy - Chennai NH, by creating an artificial traffic snarl we attempted to slow him down. Once he slowed the vehicl, I tried to climb in to pull out the keys of the vehicle to stop it. However, the accused pushed me off the vehicle and started resumed driving in a rash manner.''
The accused managed to evade from Manikandam police who attempted to block him, the chase continued on. Later, the accused person enter into the city through the Thanjavur road and reached Gandhi Market.
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Meanwhile, in an attempt to flee, the miscreant rammed into the two cars ahead of him.
This collision brought the lorry to a halt. Taking this chance, the police team caught the accused.
Later investigation revealed that the accused person was identified as Pitchai Mani (43), he was found to be involved in several theft cases.
Following further investigation, the accused person was remanded on Sunday.