Tiruchy highway heist: 3 suspected to be Bawaria gang members held

TIRUCHY: Tiruchy police on Tuesday arrested three persons in connection with the highway robbery of 10 kg of gold. The police suspect that the trio, who had reportedly been involved in the robbery, belonged to the notorious Bawaria robbery gang. The interrogation is under way.

Following the daring highway robbery in which 10 kg of gold jewellery was stolen at Samayapuram in Tiruchy-Chennai bypass, the Tiruchy Superintendent of Police ordered three special teams to nab the culprits, and the search was on for them.

After an intensive search operation based on the CCTV footage retrieved from the spot, the teams nabbed three persons from Rajasthan on Monday late hours and commenced questioning.

According to the sources, the accused belonged to the notorious Bawaria robbery gangs. The interrogation revealed that the stolen ornaments had been exchanged among the gangs and the accused were unable to provide information on the exact person who had the stolen jewellery, the sources said.

However, the police sources said that the interrogation was on. As the arrested were from Rajasthan, the police have a suspicion that they might belong to the Bawaria gang. Only after the interrogation is over, the police would arrive at a decision, sources said.

It may be noted that in the late hours of September 13, two employees, including the manager of a jewellery showroom at Sowcarpet in Chennai, came to Dindigul to deliver jewellery.

After delivering the ornaments, they were returning to Chennai by car when the robbery occurred. When the car was nearing Irungalur near Samayapuram in Tiruchy-Chennai bypass, the employees stopped their car for a nature’s call. Soon, a gang which had reportedly followed them sprinkled chilli powder and took away the bag that contained around 10 kg of gold worth Rs 10 crore and fled from the scene. The employees immediately alerted the police helpline. Following this, a case was registered, and a manhunt was on.