RAMANATHAPURAM
When his wife sensed suspicious movements in a locked house near their house at Meenakshi Nagar here and asked him to check, little did A. Linga Pandian, Sub-Inspector of Police (Special Branch) realise a ‘prize catch’ and an award for meritorious service were in store for him.
After the day’s work, Mr. Pandian returned home tired on the night of January 21 when his wife told him that she saw some mobile flash light at the locked house of a retired Tahsildar, who had gone out with his family.
Mr. Pandian went out to find a two-wheeler with ‘Press’ sticker parked near the house and a man sitting inside the compound wall. As the SI was not sure how many persons were inside the house and whether they carried arms, he sought the assistance of his colleague M. Sivasubramanian (Constable, Special Branch) and a couple of staff from the office of the Superintendent of Police.
They were all in plainclothes. Before they could catch hold of him, the intruder escaped under the cover of darkness but Mr. Pandian and the others continued the hunt. They searched in nearby places in vain.
When Mr. Pandian returned, he found the two-wheeler still parked in the same place. He started searching again in the area and found the intruder, in his late 30s, lying down like a ‘dead body’.
Mr. Pandian signalled his colleagues to come close while saying aloud that the intruder might have escaped in a bid to mislead the man.
Then, Mr. Pandian caught hold of him, little realising that he was a robber the police were looking for. The intruder was identified as M. Suresh Babu (38) of Velipattinam, who was involved in four major robberies since April last year.
After he confessed to his involvement in the cases, the police recovered 45 sovereigns of jewels. Mr. Pandian also prevented the burglary at the retired Tahsildar’s house and saved another 45 sovereigns of jewels kept in the house.
SP Omprakash Meena congratulated him for the dedicated work and Collector S. Natarajan honoured him with a merit certificate on the occasion of Republic Day on Friday. Constable Sivasubramanian was also honoured with a merit certificate.
