Wedding guests robbed, track down gang and 1 beaten to death

The deceased was identified as Raji, 24, from Red Hills. The gang had targeted the couple Baskar and Anuradha, from Vinyagar Nagar, Tirupati, who were travelling on their two-wheeler to Sathyavedu to attend the wedding. When they reached Pudukuppam near Uthukottai, the gang waylaid them. They snatched the gold chains (10 sovereigns) Anuradha was wearing, before fleeing towards Sathyavedu.

The same gang reportedly robbed six sovereigns of gold from the teacher, also on her way to attend the same function.

When guests at the reception came to know of their experience, nearly 50 people got together and decided to look for the gang and managed to track them down. “They overpowered seven of them while the rest escaped. All the seven were beaten up by the public before being handed over to the Sathyavedu police. Of the seven caught, Raji was severely injured and was taken to a government hospital nearby where he died,” a cop said.

The other six were arrested during the same night while another two were nabbed on Thursday. “So far, eight people have been arrested. A case was also registered in connection with Raji’s death,” an officer said, adding, that they suspect Raji to be the mastermind of the gang with his associates from AP.

Since Raji died after being handed over to the police, it was initially suspected that he died in custody. But the police clarified that he died because he was beaten up by the public. “We are investigating the case of death as well,” the officer noted.