Coimbatore District (Rural) Police on Saturday arrested four men from Karnataka who stole ₹14 lakh from five persons by diverting their attention in public places.
The police arrested R. Sreenivas, R. Sankar, Ajay Babu and Nandhu Vinod from Bhadravathi in Shivamogga district.
According to the police, Edwin Joseph lodged a complaint with the Mettupalayam police that four men stole ₹6,90,000 from his car on April 26. As per his complaint, a man approached his car and said that one of its tyres was punctured. As the complainant and his driver got outside the car to check the tyre, three men stole the cash from the vehicle and got away.
Coimbatore District Superintendent of Police V. Badrinarayanan formed a special team under the supervision of K. Balamurugan, Deputy Superintendent of Police, Mettupalayam sub-division to nab the accused. The team comprising Mettupalayam inspector Shanmugam and sub-inspector Selvanayagam found out during investigation that the accused were from Karnataka. The team apprehended them and recovered ₹14,01,000 from them.
When questioned, the police found that the accused had stolen ₹1,43,000 from a resident of Mettupalayam, ₹1,52,000 from a cigarette trader from Karamadai and ₹1,20,000 from a woman by diverting their attention in public places. The accused had also stolen ₹2,96,000 from a car at Mahalingapuram near Pollachi after breaking its windshield.
The police said the involvement of the accused in similar offences reported in Salem, Tiruchi, Madurai, Tirunelveli, Villupuram and Erode districts were under investigation. The gang targeted victims in busy public places like bus stands. They also did not use mobile phones while committing the crimes, the police added.
