The Hindu : Kerala / Thiruvananthapuram News : IT professional robbed of car

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Monday, Jan 28, 2008
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Kerala

Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram

IT professional robbed of car

Staff Reporter

Police say car thieves rarely hijack vehicles at knife point

Armed man snatches key, phone from the victim
Police say culprits are not professionals

Thiruvananthapuram: Four persons, one of them armed, reportedly stole the car owned by a Technopark-based software professional after threatening him at knife point in front of his relative’s house at Karamana on the night of January 23.

G. Maghesh Babu, Chief Technical Officer, Proxy Systems Private Limited, said the incident happened at Melaranoor Road between 11.45 p.m. and 11.59 p.m.

Maghesh said he was sitting inside his black Hyundai Santro Xing car (KL-01-AL-9427) with his one-and-a-half year old son. His wife, Mili, was standing on the road in front of her aunt’s house.

Four persons travelling in a Hyundai Santro car stopped their vehicle near his wife and asked her for directions to Poojappura. Maghesh said he cradled his son in his arms and walked towards his wife who was trying to explain the route to the occupants of the car. On seeing Maghesh, Mili asked him to direct the men to their destination.

Maghesh said that at this point four men got out of the car. One of them put a machete on his neck, abused him verbally, and demanded the car’s key. The key was in the breast pocket of Maghesh’s shirt along with his mobile phone.

The armed man snatched both the key and the phone and then asked Maghesh and his wife to run away from the spot. The robbers drove away in different directions.

He said there was no one on the road when the crime took place. He immediately informed the police. Maghesh said he had bought the car in 2006 on a loan availed from a nationalised bank. He said he had never defaulted on mortgage repayments.

Circle Inspector, Thampanoor, S. M. Zahir, said car thieves rarely hijacked vehicles at knife point from owners. He said this was a new kind of crime, one hitherto unreported in the district or State.

The CI said the crime had occurred when Maghesh came to pick his wife after visiting a stock trading centre. The police are investigating whether the robbery was “engineered” by someone having enmity towards Maghesh.

Mr. Zahir said the police are also investigating whether the robbery was a crime of opportunity.

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