Thane Crime Branch officials arrested a businessman on Thursday for allegedly stealing a truck filled with 1.41 lakh eggs worth Rs 5 lakh. The police are now looking for his three accomplices, Mid Day reported.

The accused, an egg distributor, and his three accomplices, who were in a car, intercepted the truck at Green City area in Ambernath city around 3.15 am on Tuesday. They allegedly dragged the truck driver, Mohammed Shaikh, out of the vehicle and began to beat him up. The accused also assaulted Mujammil, the son of their business rival, who was accompanying Shaikh. After blindfolding and dumping Shaikh near Titwala town, the accused fled with the truck, laden with 4,700 trays of 1.41 lakh eggs, Rs 2,000 in cash and Shaikh’s mobile phone, the police said.

Subsequently, Shaikh lodged a complaint at the Shivaji Nagar police station. “Our team which scoured CCTV footage and also got tip-offs from sources, learnt that one of the accused in the robbery, Sadat, was a resident of Bhiwandi,” Thane Crime Branch Deputy Commissioner of Police Deepak Devaraj said. “We caught him and have started the search for his associates. We have recovered only 1.16 lakh eggs, as the rest have been sold. The investigation is going on.”

Another police officer told DNA that Sadat confessed to the crime, and said he committed it because he was in deep debt. He will be produced in a court in Kalyan on Friday.