Two held in petrol pump dacoity case

Tiruchyi, Nov. 1: In a major breakthrough, police nabbed two persons in connection with the dacoity at the petrol pump near Manapparai. Police made this breakthrough with the help of the mobile phones stolen from the victims at the petrol pump. In a daring theft, a gang of masked men who barged into a petrol pump, tied up the staff and decamped with Rs 37,900 and four mobile phones near Manapparai on October 11.

The dacoits, who descended from a van around 3.30 am, barged into the petrol pump at Kovilpatti on the Thuvarankurichi-Viralimalai main road, tied the hands of the three staff - Manikandan (21) of Kovilpatti, Karthikeyan (30) of Thathanur and Satheeshkumar (32) of Valasupatti - and pushed them down behind the pump. On hearing the commotion, two others - Palani (23) of Chellampatti and Narayanan (28) of Melasadaiyankulam - who were sleeping near the pump, came to their rescue. However, the dacoits bound their hands too. Later, the dacoits snatched Rs 2,900 and four mobile phones from them, looted Rs 35,000 from the pump’s cash box and escaped in the van.

When Pandian of Sambapatti, who returned from Madurai, came to the petrol pump around 4.30 am to take his motorbike parked nearby, he grew suspicious as no one was present there. Then he went to the back where he found all the five lying on the ground with their hands tied behind.

The rescued petrol pump staff informed bunk manager Sivasubramanian about the incident. On a complaint from Sivasubramanian, police registered a case and formed a special team led by inspector Manickam of Thuvarankurichi police station. The team found that two of the four stolen mobile phones were being used in Dindigul. The team rushed to Dindigul on Saturday and nabbed two persons in possession of the mobile phones. The arrested, however, claimed that they had picked up the mobile phones from the floor of a Tasmac shop in Dindigul.