Six Palakkad Men Areested After High-Speed Chase on NH 766 Near Kalpetta

A Palakkad based gang was arrested by Wayanad Police after a dramatic highway robbery in Maharashtra’s Satara district. They allegedly stole ₹1.5 crore from a vehicle on Saturday night. The six member gang drove nearly 700 km back to Kerala after the heist. Acting on a tip off from Maharashtra Police, Wayanad Police caught them as they entered Kerala through Kattikkulam.

The gang was traveling in a Mahindra Scorpio and refused to stop when police tried to intercept them at Kainatti near Kalpetta on NH 766. This led to a high speed chase, which ended with the arrest of all six suspects late Saturday night. The arrested men were identified as Chithira Nandakumar (32), Ajithkumar (27), Ushanivas Vishnu (29), Jinu (31), Kaladharan (33), and Suresh (47) all from Palakkad.

Police recovered part of the stolen cash (reports say between ₹73,000 and ₹3.5 lakh) and seized weapons like hammers and a metal cutter from the gang’s vehicle. Authorities suspect they may have passed some of the loot to another group, as a second vehicle involved in the robbery is still missing. All six arrested have a history of serious crimes, including robbery, attempted murder, and drug trafficking. The operation was a joint effort by Kerala and Maharashtra police, with a Maharashtra team arriving in Wayanad to take custody of the accused for further investigation. The vehicles used in the Satara robbery have been linked to several other crime scenes, pointing to the gang’s role in a larger organized crime network. Police are also investigating if the suspects are part of a quotation gang and probing their links to similar cases in Kerala.

Read more at: https://www.onmanorama.com/news/kerala/2025/07/14/maharashtra-highway-robbery-palakkad-gang-arrested.html