Chennai: Two robberies reported on GST Road late on Monday evening may point to a possible emerging trend in the city, which should cause a headache for citizens as well as the police. The modus operandi (MO) of the gangs seems to be to bamboozle people on the main road leading out of the city, which is very busy with heavy traffic and people moving around till late in the day, and run away with their valuables.
In the first incident, the wife of a retired senior executive of a media group sitting inside a car was relieved of her handbag by a gang of men and in the second incident an hour later further south on the same road, a laundry worker was robbed of his cash and mobile phone by a gang which also attacked him with a knife after he resisted.
Alamelu Baskar (60), wife of V Baskar, retired vice president of a Chennai based media group, was relieved of her bag containing 7 sovereigns of gold and Rs 24,000 in cash, by a three-member gang. The resident of East Tambaram was returning in the car with her husband after shopping in T Nagar. Driver Selvaraj was at the wheel at around 9 pm when they were in Chromepet and Baskar asked him to stop the car while he went to recharge his mobile.
As Aalamelu and the driver were waiting in the car, three men came running as if in panic to the car and told them Baskar was calling them to the shop. Believing them, Alamelu asked Selvaraj to go to the shop and check. The gang accompanied Selvaraj for a few metres only to return to the car and then began slamming the windshield. Thinking something had gone amiss, Alamelu opened the car door, which is when the gang snatched her bag and ran away. The incident took place just opposite the Chromepet police station, where the victim was to lodge a complaint later.
In the second incident, which too happened on GST Road an hour later in Tambaram, a 24-year-old laundry man was hacked by a four-member gang when he resisted their robbery bid. The victim, Ramesh, a resident of Kattangulathur, was walking to the Tambaram railway station after getting down from the bus to catch the 10.15 pm suburban train when the gang surrounded him. He lost his mobile phone, Rs 1,000 cash and a gold chain, besides suffering cut injuries on his head. He lodged a complaint with the Tambaram police.
