Coimbatore: Two stab cabbie, scoot with his car

COIMBATORE: Police have arrested a 19-year-old youth for stabbing a call taxi driver and stealing his car.

According to police, Vasanth Kumar (35) is a taxi driver. Two persons on Tuesday night booked Vasanth's Kumar's cab for a trip to Madurai from Gandhipuram here.

While crossing an abandoned area near Sulur on the city's outskirts, the two who hired the car had asked Vasanth Kumar to stop the vehicle. There, they had stabbed him after trashing him badly and drew away his vehicle, abandoning him.

Vasanth Kumar, somehow managed to call police control room and informed the incident. Following an alert, Sulur police rushed to the spot and sent Vasanth Kumar to the Coimbatore Medical College Hospital (CMCH) for treatment.

The Tirupur city and district police were alerted, and a team led by assistant commissioner Sundar Rajan and inspector Sheela, were waiting with their teams in two different places for the hijacked car and its occupants.

Soon, the anticipated car appeared at the Tirupur - Dharapuram check post. Even as cops were attempting to block the speeding car, it sped away without stopping. The efforts of another police team to block the car near Kangeyam check-post also failed as it zipped passed without heeding to police call to stop.

Another police team waiting in two cars at a subsequent checkpost went chasing in cinematic style, and blocked the car near Nalligoundan Nagar.

Sensing that they were trapped, an youth jumped out from the running car and ran into a thick bush nearby and vanished. Police arrested the other youth who drove the car at a high speed. He was identified as Thirumurugan (19) from Andaman Nicobar. Police have launched a search for his associate identified as Kongusamy (25). Investigations are on.

Taxi driver Vasanth Kumar is admitted to CMCH Intensive Care Unit, and under treatment, added the police source.