Masked men rob couple in Melur

Two men have been arrested by the police

Six masked men robbed a couple of their mobile phones after assaulting the man outside his home in Therkamoor near Melur on Sunday night.

The police said that Balamurugan, who had recently returned from abroad, had come out of his home to buy dinner for his family. His wife had called him over the phone to inform him that some masked men were lurking outside the house.

Balamurugan, who rushed home, was attacked by the men, who snatched his expensive mobile phone. He sustained injuries on his head and shoulder. The dacoits robbed his wife’s mobile phone also.

The couple raised an alarm that alerted the neighbours at around 9.30 pm. Even before they could gather at his house, the robbers fled the scene under the cover of darkness.

However, local residents caught two persons, identified as R. Arunkumar (40) of Tiruchi and S. Iniyavan alias Deepan (38) of the Sri Lankan Refugee Camp at Tiruvathavur.

The police said that while Arunkumar had seven cases against him in Namakkal, Salem and Tiruchi districts, the other accused had cases in Ramanathapuram, Coimbatore and Dindigul districts.

The Melur police suspect that they could have been part of the dacoity gang. Both were arrested.

Auto driver robbed

In an unrelated case, two persons, who engaged an autorickshaw, assaulted the driver and robbed him of his vehicle, money and mobile phone after taking him to a secluded place near Appanthirupathi on Sunday night.

The police said that S. Sekar of S. Kodikulam, had picked up the unidentified persons at the Arapalayam bus stand.

The duo had said that they wanted to go to Appanthirupathi. When the autorickshaw reached Appanthirupathi, they asked the driver to drop them at Velliyankundram Pudur at around 9.45 p.m. When the driver took them up to Velliyankundram Pudur bridge and said that he could not go further as the earthen road was slushy, the duo attacked him and robbed his valuables.

They pushed Sekar down and escaped from the scene in his autorickshaw.

Later, the vehicle was found near Mangulam, abandoned after it ran out of fuel.

Appanthirupathi police have registered a case of robbery.