Over 10 persons, riding on four motorbikes, robbed a lone pedestrian walking towards his home, on Travellers’ Bungalow Road near Mehaboobpalayam of Rs. 1.25 lakh and his mobile phone, in the small hours of Sunday.
The police said that V. Manikandan (45), manager with a private company in Gobichettipalayam, had come home for weekend.
Having travelled in the Coimbatore-Kanyakumari Express train, he alighted at Madurai Railway station at 2 a.m. The man had chosen to walk to his house in Kochadai. While he was walking near Mehaboobpalayam, he was waylaid by the gang at around 2.25 a.m.
The police said that after threatening him to part with his mobile phone, the robbers snatched his bag containing Rs. 1.25 lakh.
He had brought money for the treatment of his wife, the police said. The S.S. Colony police have registered a case and a on the lookout for the robbers. The same gang is suspected to have robbed two mobile phones from two teenaged boys, in Keeraithurai at around 1.25 a.m.
The boys studying in different colleges were returning home after their part-time jobs.
Stung over the daring robberies, the city police on Sunday afternoon began a special drive of vehicle check across the city.
The checks were held in over 60 places with the Law and Order police personnel, crime police, and traffic police conducting checks in at least three places in each police station limits.
The Commissioner of Police, Shailesh Kumar Yadav, had ordered additional deployment of around 200 Armed Reserved police for the special vehicle check conducted in all important roads and junctions.
The police personnel verified the documents of vehicles, especially two-wheelers, as most of the chain snatching and other robberies are done using stolen vehicles.
