Five cars and the container lorry, in which they were being transported, were gutted in a fire near Poonamallee on Sunday night.
According to police, the container lorry, driven by Swaminathan of Chennai, was on its way to Chennai port from Irungattukottai near Sriperumbudur.
When the vehicle reached the Poonamallee flyover on the Chennai-Bangalore National Highway around 1 a.m. the driver heard some noise from the container.
He stopped the vehicle on the service lane and opened the door of the container only to find the cars engulfed in flames.
Vehicle abandoned
Following this he ran away from the scene abandoning the vehicle.
Some of the passersby informed the Fire and Rescue Service personnel who rushed to the spot and brought the fire under control in about two hours.
More than five fire tenders were pressed into service.
The Poonamallee police have registered a case.
