Two persons were today arrested and booked under the Goonda Act for their alleged involvement in several cases of rape and robbery, police said.
Seventy five sovereigns of gold jewellery were recovered from their possession, Superintendent of Police M Durai said.
The SP said the modus operandi of accused Sathyan and his accomplice Arjunan was to target young couples or paramours who visited seculded spots frequently, and would kidnap the women after robbing them off their jewellery and rape them.
Scores of people had fallen victim to the duo but not many had filed complaints, he said.
The SP said police acted on a complaint of a 16-year-old victim, who was kidnapped on March 16 while she was with her paramour and raped by them before being dropped off at the bus stand.
The two used cover of night and jungle pathways to escape on bike after each crime and avoided any checkpost that made their tracking difficult, he said.
A team of 50 police personnel in civil dresses combed out the entire area, identified the bike used by them by its number and nabbed them today, he said.
Durai said police records showed that 16 cases of chain snatching had been filed against them and though their bail application was due to come up on April 26, the duo were detained under the Goonda Act.
Those booked under this stringent act cannot come out on bail for a minimum period of one year.
