Kancheepuram cops nab Kerala gang behind Rs 4.5 cr highway heist

CHENNAI: In a scene ripped straight from a high-octane thriller, an armed gang on three vehicles hijacked an SUV travelling on Chennai-Bengaluru NH, took the occupants captive at knifepoint, and continued to drive on before robbing Rs 4.5 crore in cash that they were ferrying from Bengaluru to Sowcarpet in Chennai.

Though the heist happened on August 20, the information about this has come to light only after five of the gang members were arrested.

The money belonged to a Mumbai-based courier company owned by Jatin (56), and was to be delivered by his drivers, Piyushkumar and Devendra Patel.

Near Aattuputhur in Kancheepuram, a convoy of three cars swarmed the SUV, forcing it to a halt. A gang of men armed with knives commandeered the vehicle and forced the drivers at knife-point to continue down the highway.

When it reached near Arcot, they stopped the vehicles and transferred the cash to their own vehicles. They then abandoned the vehicle and the two men before vanishing into the traffic.

Though Piyushkumar and Patel immediately alerted Jatin, who then filed a formal complaint at the Ponnerikarai station in Kancheepuram, the police chose to keep the robbery under wraps.

Meanwhile, a special team led by SP K Shanmugham began an investigation. Officials zeroed in on a gang from Kerala and conducted searches in Palakkad, Kollam, and Thrissur districts, during which five suspects, Santosh, Sujilal, Jayan, Rishad, and Kunju Mohamed, were nabbed.

When they were brought here and interrogated, the police found out about the involvement of at least 12 more suspects.

The five arrested accused were produced before a Kancheepuram judge, who sent them in police custody for further questioning. The police have taken the accused to Kerala to hunt for the remaining 12 robbers who are still at large.