Five persons were arrested by Ambur taluk police for stealing steel railing along a distance of 40 metres on Nakkaneri Main Road, maintained by the State Highways, in the hillock near Ambur town in Tirupattur on Tuesday.
Police said that the suspects were identified as R. Murugan, 32, N. Santhosh Kumar, 32, S. Prabhu, 38, K. Kumaresan, 32, and M. Sathyamurthy, 30. All of them hail from Vaniyambadi, Ambur and Jamunamarathur (Jawadhu Hills) in Tirupattur and Tiruvannamalai districts.
It was during a routine inspection carried out by a team of officials led by B. Babu, road inspector (RI), that the team found steel railing missing at six to seven hairpin bends on the hilly stretch, which is 4.8-km long. The steel railings were installed by the State Highways department a few years ago to ensure safe vehicular movement, including a lone bus service to Nakkaneri tribal village atop the hillock from Ambur town.
Initial investigation revealed the involvement of the suspects. Based on a tipoff, the suspects were arrested from their hideouts. Cases were registered against them. Later, they were lodged at the sub-jail in Tirupattur town, police said.
