MADURAI: A highway robbery gang was busted after a suspect’s wife repeatedly called him to ask why he was late and when he would return home. Mobile tower records helped Tamil Nadu police trace the gang to Madhya Pradesh. Alleged mastermind Makasud Khan, 35, was arrested and remanded in judicial custody in Tuticorin on Monday. A hunt is on for his remaining four aides.Police said the gang targeted women passengers carrying valuables in handbags left on bus seats during refreshment breaks at highway dhabas. Travelling in an SUV, they stole 173 sovereigns of gold in five incidents in Tuticorin, Oddanchatram, Batlagundu, Aravakurichi and Ulundurpet.The Tuticorin case surfaced on Aug 27, when three men entered a private bus during a halt at Kayathar. One stayed near the front, another guarded the doorway, while a third stole assistant professor Juliet Jeyakumar’s bag. She was carrying about 40 sovereigns of gold jewellery to Chennai for her son’s proposed marriage.She immediately alerted police, and a Kayathar station team secured recordings from the roadside eatery and cameras installed inside the bus. The footage clearly showed the suspects, but investigators initially had no clue to their identities.Officers then examined phone traffic around the location and found one number having received four calls from Madhya Pradesh, while the remaining communications were linked to Tamil Nadu. The number was traced to Makasud’s wife. Police said she repeatedly called after he failed to return as expected, though he had told her he would leave for home on Aug 31.Investigators then shared video grabs of Makasud with Madhya Pradesh police, who identified him as a notorious robber from Kherwan Jagir village in Dhar district. A special team led by Inspector Vanamamalai travelled to Madhya Pradesh. “While heading to the hilltop village, officers unexpectedly spotted Makasud riding a motorcycle in the opposite direction. The team was travelling in a private vehicle, but Makasud tried to flee after spotting police. He was intercepted by officers stationed at a checkpoint near the foothill,” said Vanamamalai.Further questioning linked Makasud’s group to a string of similar offences in Tamil Nadu between Aug 24 and 31. Police said Tuticorin was their final operation before they returned to Madhya Pradesh. Accused was produced before a local court, brought to Tamil Nadu on a transit warrant and remanded on Monday.Investigators said usable video evidence was available only in the Batlagundu and Kayathar cases, restricting recovery to property linked to those incidents. About 388 grams of gold was recovered, while jewellery connected to the remaining three cases is yet to be recovered.
