COIMBATORE: Three Uttar Pradesh natives, who allegedly hacked a police head constable in an attempt to flee, were shot in the right leg on Saturday morning in Kuniyamuthur. The trio had burgled 13 houses in the Kavundampalayam Tamil Nadu Housing Board government quarters on Friday and went into hiding, according to Kavundampalayam police.
According to police, the accused have been identified as A Irfan (48) of Majitpura, I Kallu Arif (60) of Jamila Masjid and I Ashif (45) of Jila Gaziputh, all of them from UP. They are currently undergoing treatment at the Coimbatore Medical College and Hospital (CMCH), they said.
“The suspects reached the city two days ago, targeting the TNHB government quarters, and stayed with 12 migrant workers who sell aluminium utensils telling that they came to Coimbatore to sell clothes,” said Coimbatore City Police Commissioner A Saravana Sundar, speaking at a presser in his office on Saturday. On Friday, they burgled the homes, including the RDO’s residence, when the officials were away on duty and made away with gold, silver jewellery and cash, he said.
Subsequently, a police team led by Inspector Vetriselvi traced and arrested the suspects within 16 hours of the crime and recovered 42 sovereigns of gold, 500g of silver and Rs 1.5 lakh cash, he added.
“We have sent the suspects’ fingerprints to police stations in UP, Madhya Pradesh, Delhi and Rajasthan to check whether they were involved in similar offences,” the commissioner said. He denied allegations that police resorted to opening fire on them since the offenders belong to the northern parts of the country.
“Police personnel were forced to shoot in their legs in self-defence since the suspects used a sickle to hack a head constable, Parthiban, who was injured in the left hand. We are also investigating the involvement of other persons who had stayed with the three suspects.
The trio targeted locked houses and broke them using rods and screwdrivers. They looted the gold, silver and cash within three hours,” Saravana Sundar said.
He also stated that the work is under way to connect the CCTV cameras in RS Puram with the control room.