Arcot police on Thursday arrested a gang of nine, including three college students and a 30-year-old woman, that had been waylaying lorry drivers on the National Highway (NH) 46. Except a 22-year-old youth, the other six in the gang were in the age group of 17 to 19.
Mahesh Kumar (21) of Virinjipuram, Mohammed Fakath (19) of Vellore, Baskar (22) of Chinna Allapuram and Malar (30) of Cheyyar were arrested along with five teenagers, all aged 17 and 18 years, for waylaying a lorry driver, Absar Ali, on August 14 near Then Nandiyalam near Rathinagiri, said Inspector of Police of Arcot Town Station V E Senthil.
On interrogation, the police learnt that the gang - led by Malar, who was allegedly involved in flesh trade, and Baskar - instigated other boys, all college students and school drop outs, into organised crime. Though they had been waylaying lorry drivers along the NH 46 for some time now in Ranipet Sub-Division, only two cases were reported in the last one- and-half months.
Elaborating on the modus operandi of the gang, Superintendent of Police of Vellore I Eswaran said Malar would wait at a spot on the NH to lure lorry drivers by signaling using a torch light. “If any lorry driver stopped, Malar would take him to a desolate spot nearby where the boys would be waiting. They would rob the driver and flee from the spot,” said Eswaran.
The gang’s s free run came to an end on August 14 after a lorry driver, who fell prey to their trap and robbed of Rs 7,000, alerted the police. “Absar Ali had stopped his lorry on seeing Malar at Then Nandiyalam, the gang robbed him of Rs 7,000 and boarded a bus towards Arcot,” added the SP.
However, Absar Ali followed the bus and also informed the police about the incident. Following this, the Arcot Town police nabbed the three boys and Malar after intercepting the bus near Arcot.
Based on the information provided by Malar, police arrested five others in connection with the case.
On interrogation, it was also found that they had earlier robbed Murugan, another lorry driver, of Rs 3,500 on July 26 at Veppur. Based on the complaint from Ali, police registered a case against the members of the gang.
As per the Juvenile Justice Act, the police sent the five boys, aged below 18 years, to Juvenile Home at Kellys in Chennai.
While Malar was remanded to Special Prison for Women, the three others - Baskar, Mahesh Kumar and Fakath - were remanded to Vellore Central Prison for Men.
Comments
0 comment