Highway robbery: Cops chase, nab Bawaria gang; recover 9.43 kg gold

TIRUCHY: The hunt for the robbers who attacked the staff of a Chennai-based jewel-making unit and escaped with 10 kg gold jewellery ended in a dramatic climax after a special team from the Tiruchy police chased a bus and nabbed two suspects, allegedly part of the notorious Bawaria gang, who were escaping to Madhya Pradesh.

The police team recovered 9.432 kg of jewels, cash, and country made pistols, and have so far secured eight people.

The robbery happened in the late hours on September 13 when the manager and a staffer of the Sowcarpet-based jewel-making unit were returning to Chennai after delivering jewels in shops in Dindigul. When their car was nearing Irungalur near Samayapuram on the Tiruchy-Chennai bypass, they stopped to attend nature’s call.

That was when a gang that followed them sprinkled chilli powder, snatched the bag that contained 10 kg of gold jewellery, valued around Rs 10 crore, and fled the spot. The staffers immediately contacted the police helpline, and a case was registered.

Tiruchy Superintendent of Police S Selvanagarathinam formed three special teams that launched the manhunt. They first checked the CCTV footage from the area where the robbery happened. Suspecting that it could be an inside job, they interrogated the manager and staff who were attacked, and also the driver of the car, Pradeep Khan.

After initially refusing any connection with the crime, Pradeep allegedly confessed to the police that he had hatched the plan to loot the jewels along with six of his friends from Rajasthan. Sources said they belong to the notorious Bawaria robbery gangs.

Based on the information that they gathered from him, special teams fanned out to Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, and Maharashtra. After intensive searches, one of the teams nabbed five people from Rajasthan. However, there was no sign of the stolen gold as the accused claimed that the loot had changed hands among different gangs and they had no information as to who had it by then.

Not believing them, the police officials continued intensive interrogation and found that the jewels were with Mangilal Devasi and Vikram Jhat from Jodhpur in Rajasthan.

Thus started the second manhunt. By tracking their mobile phone numbers, the special team found that they were travelling along the Mumbai-Agra National Highway. The Tamil Nadu police officials sought the assistance of the Sandwa police and found that the suspects were travelling on a bus to Madhya Pradesh.

The police followed the bus and nabbed both Mangilal and Vikram and recovered 9.432 kg gold jewels, Rs 3 lakh in cash, and two country made pistols. The police are in the process of bringing them back to Tamil Nadu, said sources here.