Two railway staff held for robberies

CHENNAI: Two railway employees were arrested on Thursday for a series of robberies in the city and its suburbs. Police said the victims were mostly elderly women living by themselves in the suburbs and the modus operandi was similar: two ‘technicians’ from an LPG agency would enter, gag the women and escape with valuables.
Announcing the arrest of S Vinayagam (33) and S Marimuthu (35) of G K M Colony in Peravallur near Perambur, South Chennai joint commissioner of police K P Shanmuga Rajeswaran said, “an intensive storming operation helped nab the accused.”
Madipakkam inspector Sankaranarayanan, sub-inspector P Surya Narayanan and head constable S Muthusamy were checking vehicles at the Ram Nagar check-post near Madipakkam around 6 am when the duo came there.
“Initially, police at the check-post didn’t suspect anything as they presented valid driving licences and also showed their railway identity cards. However, as the questioning continued, they appeared a bit nervous. They were taken to the police station and interrogated separately when they revealed the series of robberies,” St Thomas Mount deputy commissioner of police Ashwin M Kotnis told TOI.
The duo told police they had been involved in more than 10 cases of robbery in the city and its suburbs and stole over 74 sovereigns of gold jewels. In most of these cases, they told investigators, they would pose as technicians from LPG-supplying agencies or plumbers and strike at houses where elderly women were alone. After surveying the targeted houses, the two, in similar uniforms, would enter and gag old women before fleeing with the loot. They never hurt their victims, the duo told police. Police managed to recover 45 sovereigns of gold jewels, a laptop and Rs 75,000 in cash from them.
Vinayagam told police he had committed two chain-snatching incidents in the city and worked at a LPG-supplying agency in Sembium for a couple of months before joining the Integral Coach Factory as a ‘khalasi’. Marimuthu, police said, was a business administration graduate who is facing a dowry harassment case filed by his wife. Marimuthu, who is also a ‘khalasi’ in the ICF, befriended Vinayagam and the two began their career in crime, police said.