Man in cab drivers guise tries to rob techie, held

A 28-year-old man has been arrested for posing as a cab driver and attempting to rob a techie at knife-point by allegedly kidnapping her after persuading to get in to his car at Pallavaram on Tuesday.

Police sources claimed that an initial inquiry revealed that the man was involved in similar cases of robbery targeting women waiting alone in the streets and that he would escape by changing the registration number of his car.

Police said they arrested Satish of Nanmangalam after he posed as a cab driver and attempted to rob software engineer Senthamizh (23) of Pallavaram.

On Tuesday afternoon, the techie working for a popular IT company was waiting along with three other women colleagues on the 200-feet-Radial road at Pallavaram for a cab to drop her in her office on Old Mahabalipuram Road, police said.

Soon a cab arrived, driven by Satish, and when the woman was about to get in the car, her colleagues became suspicious and told her it was not the same vehicle that used to pick them up and asked her not to get in, police said.

But Satish allegedly convinced her to get in claiming that drivers changed everyday and made her believe he was going to drop her in her office. After the woman got in leaving the other three women, Satish reportedly threatened her at knife point to give him all her gold jewellery. A shocked Senthamizh attempted to escape by opening the door and, noticing it, Satish stopped the car. The techie then had a lucky escape but left her bag and cell phone in the car.

Police said they began verifying the address they got after the woman got them the vehicle number. Police also began tracing the tower signal of her mobile phone left in the car. Both the mobile phone signal and the car number showed a place in Nanmangalam near Pallikaranai. A police team then rushed to the place and on finding many cars parked in the area, caught Satish on suspicion and later confirmed that he was the accused. Upon an initial inquiry, police said the man was involved in four such cases, including two at Madipakkam, where he had targeted women waiting in the streets and robbed them after giving a lift.