Rajkot: A gang of robbers unleashed terror on the busy Maliya-Ahmedabad highway for nearly two hours early on Tuesday, targeting at least five trucks and murdering one of the truck drivers.
The gang intercepted the trucks going to and from Kutch and asked their drivers and cleaners to get down. Some of the gang members then dragged the drivers and cleaners into the roadside bushes about 200-300 metre from the highway and tied their hands and legs. They were then beaten up black and blue with bats and pipes and robbed of cash and mobiles.
The robbers targeted the first truck near Khirai village, about 7km from Maliya. All the trucks were intercepted and their drivers robbed in a stretch of just 3km between Khirai and Vadharva villages on the highway from around 3am to 5am. After robbing the drivers and cleaners, they let them off.
However, one of the truck drivers Sukhram Ram Milan Pal, a native of Sultanpur in Uttar Pradesh, who tried to resist them, was strangulated to death in the bushes. While three trucks that were robbed were going towards Kutch, Pal was going towards Ahmedabad with a truck loaded with ajwain seeds. Cleaner Sikandar, who was also beaten up along with Pal, lodged a complaint of murder with the Maliya police station against the unidentified robbers.
The truck drivers who were thrashed and looted were identified as Jasa Kalotra, a native of Nani Virani village of Kutch’s Nakhatrana taluka, Bhima Harbham and Harbham Prabhu. They robbed Rs 10,000 from Kalotra after placing a knife on his throat, Rs 30,000 from Bhima and Rs 20,000 from Harbham.
The location where the robbers struck is a very busy highway and there are many roadside eating joints and hotels located on this stretch.
R T Vyas, police sub-inspector of Morbi local crime branch, told TOI, “The victims couldn’t give their description as it was very dark. But the gang members were talking in Hindi mixed with Gujarati. We suspect them to be some locals.”
Vyas said that the police is scrutinizing footage from the CCTVs installed at a toll plaza nearby to get more clues about the robbers. “We are also questioning some people with criminal background in the areas nearby,” Vyas said.
Police said that such terrifying highway robbery has been reported after nearly 10-12 years in this region. Earlier, such highway robberies were often reported from Morbi-Rajkot highway and Wankaner, mostly carried out by gangs of tribals.
Police have also lodged a separate offence of dacoity against the robbers.
The truck whose driver was murdered by robbers near Maliya