Namakkal (Tamil Nadu): Tamil Nadu Police shot dead a man accused in an ATM heist case in Kerala after he refused to stop a container lorry allegedly containing looted cash and weapons.
The incident took place in Komarapalayam town in Tamil Nadu’s Namakkal district during a high-speed chase by police. Speaking to ETV Bharat, Thrissur City Police Commissioner R Ilango said that a total of three ATMs were robbed at two places in Thrissur and in the suburbs, and the clues were the same in all the incidents.
It is understood that Rs 60 lakh was looted from these State Bank of India ATMs.
Commissioner Ilango also said that bank ATMs were robbed the day after the machine was filled with money. He said that ATM centres without security guards have been selected and only the part of the machine where money is deposited has been cut with a gas cutter machine.
According to Tamil Nadu Police, the robbers were involved in multiple thefts. On Friday, police received a tipoff about the suspected lorry after it hit another vehicle. Following this, a team led by Namakkal Superintendent of Police (SP) Rajesh Khanna, started chasing the vehicle.
When the police tried to intercept it, the gang refused to stop after repeated appeals instead they allegedly fired at the police party injuring two officers Inspector Thavamani and Sub-Inspector Ranjith. This forced police to retaliate leading to an encounter in which one suspect was killed after being hit by a bullet.
The gang targeted three ATMs in Thrissur district in Kerala in the early hours of Friday. R Elango added, "The incident happened between 2 am and 4 am. One ATM was in the rural police limit, while the other two were in the city police limit. They destroyed the CCTV cameras and used a gas cutter to cut the ATM machine".
The Police also released a video showing a car and an ATM inside the container. West Zone DIG Uma said the police were conducting a vehicle inspection at the Namakkal district border.
"The particular container lorry went past the police without stopping at the checkpoint. The police chased the vehicle. The lorry ran away by ramming the vehicles of civilians on the road to avoid being caught by the police, and then took a U-turn and went back to Sangakiri Road as the toll gate came. After this, they stopped the vehicles across the road in Sannyasipatti area and surrounded the container lorry," he said.
After this, the police arrested four people including the driver in the driver's cabin of the container lorry and took the lorry to the police station. DIG Uma said that when Police personnel heard something banging in the locked container, they stopped the lorry and checked the truck and then the driver Jamaluddin (40) opened the container and a person named Azhar Ali (28) ran out of the container with a bag full of money in his hand.
Uma said Jamaluddin assaulted Assistant Inspector Ranjith Kumar and Inspector Tavamani with a sharp object in his hand while trying to catch Azhar Ali. "So Inspector Tavamani fired a bullet in his chest and Jamaluddin died on the spot. A bullet grazed Azhar Ali's leg. Three more people who were hiding behind the container were also arrested. Kerala Police have also come to Namakkal. The next course of action will be announced after technical investigations including forensics," added the DIG.
Police said Azhar Ali was caught along with a gang involved in a robbery in Kerala and he hijacked a car and was caught on his way to Uttara through Tamil Nadu.
The DIG said that it has been confirmed that all the arrested persons are from Haryana and they loaded the goods in a lorry with a Rajasthan registration number and unloaded it in Chennai.
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