Chennai: Fruit shop employee held for staging robbery drama

CHENNAI: Koyambedu Police on Saturday arrested a 26-year-old fruit shop employee for staging a robbery drama claiming that two men posing as cops robbed him of Rs 14 lakh.

The accused, Dhanseer (26), a native of Pernambut in Vellore, was an employee of a fruit shop in the Koyambedu market and also occasionally worked as a driver for his employer. Police sources said the employer had recently given him Rs 14 lakh to deliver to a friend.

When Dhanseer did not return and was unreachable on phone, the employer got worried. Later, Dhanseer returned and claimed that two unidentified men, dressed as traffic police personnel, had intercepted his autorickshaw on Nerkundram–Dayasadan Road on Thursday night and fled with the cash.

Based on a complaint, Koyambedu police began an inquiry and collected CCTV footage from the area. During the investigation, police found inconsistencies in Dhanseer’s statements. On further questioning, police said Dhanseer confessed to fabricating the robbery.

The entire Rs 14 lakh was recovered from him. The accused was produced before a magistrate and remanded to judicial custody.