The Hindu : Dacoity at jewellery shop: five held

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Jan 19, 2004

Kerala

Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram

Dacoity at jewellery shop: five held

By Our Staff Reporter

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, JAN. 18. In a major breakthrough, the Rural police have arrested a five-member gang in connection with the daylight dacoity at a jewellery shop at Kilimanoor on January 8.

The SP (Rural), Balaram Upadhyaya, said the arrest has thrown light on several other cases of dacoity and chain-snatching in the rural district. The accused were identified as Hussain (25), Yakoob (23), Javad (23), Habid (20) and Noushar Khan (27). All are residents of Varkala.

Mr. Upadhayaya said the modus operandi of the accused was to hire vehicles from `drive yourself rent-a-car services' in the district. On January 8, the gang had used a car hired from an agency run by one Najeeb in Varkala for robbing `Vajram' jewellery, near Kilimanoor.

The SP said initially that the police had scarce clues to work on. "The only lead we had was that a Maruti van bearing a registration number starting with HR was used for the operation," he said. The police processed several pieces of information passed on anonymously by the public. Finally, the Maruti van (HR-03-P-1071) was traced to a rent-a-car agency owned by Najeeb. On verifying the register at the agency, the police found out that Hussain had hired the van on January 8. The police arrested Hussain who confessed to the crime, the SP said. On the basis of Hussain's statement, the police arrested the rest of the accused.

Mr. Upadhayaya said the modus operandi of the accused was to scour the rural district for potential targets, who were mostly traders or women wearing ornaments. The police found that two-members of the gang had used a motorbike to snatch the chain of a woman returning from a temple at Attingal on December 5, 2003. He said Hussain's gang had waylaid a trader travelling in a Maruti Esteem car at Thottacaud in the wee hours of December 13, 2003. The trader had reported a loss of Rs. 25,500 and a costly wristwatch.

In another instance, the gang had allegedly waylaid a trader travelling to a local market at Thottacaud in the wee hours of January 7 and decamped with Rs. 16,550. The SP said several other chain snatchings in the district had been traced to the gang. He said the Tamil Nadir police have sought the custody of the gang members in connection with the theft of Rs 5 lakhs as it was being taken to a bank in Nagercoil. The police have seized the swords and daggers used by the gang for their operations, an official said.

The police said that most of the members of Hussain's gang were `newcomers' who did not figure in police crime records. Hussain himself is an accused in a motorbike theft case. Officials said the gangs were hard pressed for money. One of the gang members, Habib, was cohabiting with a foreigner at Varkala for sometime, police said.

Meanwhile, the police are scrutinising the functioning of rent-a-car-services in the district. Mr. Upadhayaya said the complicity of Najeeb, owner of the rent-a-car service in Varkala, was being verified. The police suspect that a blue Maruti Zen car owned by the agency (TN-04-E-4615) was used by the gang to carry out a few operations. The police have also found out that the agency operated 16-odd private cars as taxis without Government permit.

The vehicles were hired out for a daily rent of Rs. 900 and upwards to clients, which included foreigners. The rural police have initiated a scrutiny of all rent-a-car services in the district. It is learned that many such agencies do not maintain proper records, an official said. According to the police, a rent-car-vehicle was used to knock down a youth at Nanthancode in the city last year. The investigation team headed by the SP consisted of the DySP (Attingal), Ravilal and Circle Inspectors, D. Rajagopal, P. Reghu and Baiju.

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