MANGALURU: Mangaluru city police arrested a gang of four dacoits belonging to the notorious ‘chaddi’ gang hours after they struck at a house of an elderly couple and decamped with gold ornaments and other valuables on Tuesday.
Police said the gang members gained entry into the house of Victor Mendonca and Patricia Mendonca, a couple located on Kotekani road, at around 1.45 am by cutting open the window grills. They assaulted the couple with rods and screw drivers and took away gold ornaments, wrist watches and a mobile phone worth more than Rs 13 lakh. Around 4.40 am, the gang members vanished in Mendonca’s car which was parked in their compound. The car was later found abandoned near Mulki bus stand, which is 25 km away.
Acting swiftly, the cops went through the CCTV footage near Mulki Bus Stand and came to know that the gang had returned to Mangaluru in a KSRTC bus before they took another bus to Bengaluru. After contacting the bus conductor, the Hassan SP was alerted following which a team led by the Sakaleshpur DySP intercepted the bus near Sakaleshpur and arrested all the four accused. Police said the accused confessed to the crime and the booty was recovered from their possession.
The accused were identified as Raju Singwania, 24, Mayur, 30, Baali, 22, and Vicky, 21 – all from Madhya Pradesh. The ‘chaddi’ gang gets its name from the shorts worn by its members who also go barefoot.
