Chennai: When taxi driver Samuel decided to stop the vehicle near the Krishyanpet check post on the Tamil Nadu- Andhra Pradesh border near Vellore on Friday evening and ask the police team to check the occupants of his vehicle, he never thought it would lead to the cracking of a sensational jewellery shop heist that had taken place in Tirunelveli during the early hours of the same day.
Samuel literally guided the police to the gang which had looted 37.5 kg gold worth Rs 9 crore and Rs 7.95 lakh cash from a jewellery shop. The gang from Jharkhand had got into his vehicle near Vellore CMC and asked him to take them to Tirupati. The gang had travelled across the state by Friday evening after looting the shop in the morning.
"I became suspicious. So I stopped the vehicle and asked the police to check their bags," Samuel, who was driving the vehicle a Tata Sumo, told this newspaper. The Police team at the check post was quick to realise what was happening. Seeing Samuel having put the cops on to them, the gang left the bag behind and started running away. The cops managed to overpower one of the gang members, later identified as Khalid Sheik (35).
As Samuel was instrumental in recovering the stolen gold within 12 hours, the DGP on Tuesday honoured him by giving him a share of the reward along with other police personnel deployed at the check post. "He decided to take that particular route because he was aware that there is a police check post. He was not comfortable with the gang in his vehicle and wanted to check their identity cards. He was sure he would not be able to check them by himself. So he approached the police," noted Vellore SP, P.Pakalavan, when this newspaper contacted him.
Police said the gang members were heading to Tirupati from where they were planning to go to their home state in the north.
