COIMBATORE: In a daring daylight robbery, a five-member masked gang robbed 1.25 kilogram of gold bars along with cash by waylaying a Thrissur-based jeweller at Ettimadai on the national highway stretch in Coimbatore on Saturday morning.
The gangsters targeted J Jaison Jacob (55) of Palakkal village in Thrissur district where he owns a jewellery shop along with a goldsmithery unit, said the KG Chavadi police in Coimbatore.
Jaison and his employee S Vishnu (20) were returning to his native place in Jaison's car from the Coimbatore railway station when the incident occurred. Earlier, they had arrived in the city by train from Chennai after buying gold bars weighing 1.25 kg from a few shops in Chennai.
While the duo reached near a petroleum bunk on the Palakkad-bound national highway, a lorry waylaid the car. Subsequently, the five-member gang who were hiding nearby asked Jaison to open the door. When he resisted, one of the gang members damaged the car window using an iron rod. Fearing an attack, Jaison opened the door, and subsequently the gang got into the car.
"The gang also shifted Jaison, who was driving the car, to the backseat, and one of the members drove the car on the same highway. After spraying pepper spray, the gang stole the gold bars which were kept under the seat at knifepoint, and left Jaison and Vishnu on the roadside. Subsequently, the gang travelled in the same car towards the Velanthavalam route on another route," said a police officer of the KG Chavadi police station.
After help from fellow motorists, Jaison filed a complaint at the KG Chavadi police station. Coimbatore SP K Karthikeyan visited the spot.
"As the gang spoke in Malayalam, we suspect the suspects were from Kerala. The gang travelled for two kilometres after taking the car at 6.45am and assaulting Jaison and Vishnu. The gang also took Rs 60,000 cash that Jaison had kept in the car. We will arrest them soon by deploying a special team," the SP said.
We are coordinating with the Kerala Police to nab the culprits, he added.
[At the current market price of about Rs 9,320 per sovereign for 22 carat gold in Chennai, 1.25 kg or 156 sovereigns of gold costs approximately Rs 14,539,20. (1 kg = 1,000 g = 125 sovereigns.)]