Tamil Nadu - Coimbatore   

Awards for police and public

Staff Reporter

Coimbatore: The Inspector-General of Police, West Zone, K. Rajendran on Tuesday gave away cash rewards to ten police personnel and three members of the public who gave a hot chase and nabbed a dacoit gang in the hosiery town of Tirupur on Monday.

The IG in the presence of the DIG of Police, Coimbatore Range, M.N. Manjunatha and the Superintendent of Police, Coimbatore Rural District, A.T. Duraikumar, presented the rewards to them.

Overpowered

On Monday morning, a gang suspected to be six in number (one of them in khaki uniform) entered the house of Chandran alias P. Gunasekaran on Kangeyam Road at 7.45 a.m. The gang overpowered him and tied him with a cloth along with his wife and daughter at gunpoint and decamped with jewels and cash worth Rs 3.25 lakhs.

The IG along with Mr.Manjunatha and Mr. Duraikumar said that immediately after a phone call from the victim's friend, the police in Tirupur, Palladam, Avanashi, Annur and Karamadai were alerted to look out for the vehicle in Coimbatore City.

Barricades were placed on the road and buses and lorries parked on the middle of the road to obstruct the gang.

After a hot chase for more than one-and-a-half hours for nearly 60 km criss-crossing the lanes, by-lanes and village roads in and around Avanashi and Annur, the police finally intercepted the vehicle.

Meanwhile, some of the gangsters had escaped en route and Bipin Kumar alias Sunil (25) landed in the police net. Two wristwatches, silver lamp and cash Rs 1,100 were recovered from him. The hunt continued for the other gangsters.

Preliminary investigations had revealed that Syed Saleem of Tirupur, an army deserter to be the mastermind, identified targets i.e., affluent persons and hired gangsters from Agra and New Delhi for the robbery and dacoity.

The police also suspect the hand of this same gang in the murder of Karuppasamy at Tirupur nearly two months ago and in the robbery of two collection executives of a rice merchant on a Pollachi - Tirupur Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation bus near Palladam recently, wherein the gang decamped with over Rs 2 lakhs by opening fire in the air in a running bus.

Omni van used by the gang for this robbery had now been recovered from the house of Syed Saleem. Preliminary investigations revealed that the gang had five other members with four of them from New Delhi, Agra and Uttar Pradesh besides the kingpin in this dacoity. Five special teams led by two Deputy Superintendents of Police are on the manhunt.

Police posts

To check the crime rate and incidents in Tirupur, Mr.Rajendran said that nine police posts would be established on the roads leading to Palladam, Dharapuram, Kangeyam, Uthukuzhi, Kongu Nagar, Peundurai, Avanashi, Mangalam and Government Arts College.

These posts would have personnel equipped with firearms and walkie-talkie sets to ensure instant and swift reaction and to maintain vigil. In addition to the already existing nine patrol vehicles, the hosiery town would be provided with two more patrol vehicles to ensure stepped up vigil, they said.

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