For the past two weeks, a mysterious white car has been giving the City police quite an irritating headache.
The car, of which the only identification so far is as a white Tata Indica, has been used at least four times, twice in the city, by a gang for snatching gold chains from women and for making a fast getaway. The getaways, in this case, have not been because the car is a remarkably fast one, but because the persons using it have been good at hiding.
In the city, the first time the gang struck was on June 24, when the three-sovereign gold chain of a 52-year-old woman, who was out on a morning walk with her husband, was snatched from near Chenthitta around 7 a.m. The incident saw the City police immediately launching a hunt across the city, inspecting almost all white Indica cars they came across. The search resulted in the seizure of a cache of illicit spirit from a similar car parked near Pazhavangady, but the car that was involved in the chain snatching remained elusive, and remains so till date.
The car is believed to have struck again, in Kollam and Changanassery, as per CCTV visuals available with the police. Though there was a report on another strike again in Thiruvananthapuram, the police could not confirm whether it was the same car. They have, however, issued a multi-district alert for the white Indica.
H. Venkatesh, City Police Commissioner, said the police hoped to nab the gang within 15 days. “We believe there are at least three persons in the car. We had the registration number once, but that turned out to be fake, as it belonged to a motorbike. The gang seems to be depending on such fake plates, and could be hiding in small side lanes immediately after striking, and then coming out after changing the number plate,” he said.
The car that was used in Thiruvananthapuram, and the one in Kollam and Changanassery appeared to be the same, but this could be confirmed only after the gang was nabbed, he said. The police had a few ‘strong leads,’ and were progressing with a ‘scientific investigation’.
(Reporting by Dennis Marcus Mathew)
