COIMBATORE: Police on Friday arrested a 23-year-old vegetable seller, who had stolen a bus belonging to a private medical college at Chittur in Palakkad district of Kerala on June 16.
Police identified him as M Vijayakumar of Dharmaraj Colony in Anaimalai. “Bus driver S Jainulabdeen of Gandhi Nagar at Anaimalai had parked the vehicle at the Old Bus Stand premises at Anaimalai and had gone home to celebrate Ramzan along with his family. He did not go for work for a few days as he was unwell. When he reached the bus stand on June 21, the bus was missing. He checked CCTV footage from local commercial establishments and found a footage showing a youth driving away with the bus,” a police officer said.
The bus was owned by the Karuna Medical College and Hospital at Chittur. “Jainulabdeen had been working as its driver for the last seven years. He was assigned to pick up patients from
Pollachi and Animalai area in the bus every day to the college premises for free treatment since January 2018. Based on his complaint, Anaimalai police registered a case against the unidentified bus lifter under section 379 of the Indian Penal Code. Based on the CCTV footage, we managed to trace his whereabouts,” the officer told TOI.
Vijayakumar drove the bus to Gobichettipalayam in
Erode district and tried to sell it to some people. However, police reached the place and arrested him. They also recovered the bus.
Police sources said that Vijayakumar had been arrested for vehicle theft earlier. “He had stolen a car from a tourist stand at Anaimalai in April 26, 2017. Car owner V Senthilkumar of Anaimalai and three car drivers rushed to Palladam area and traced the vehicle, which had met with an accident. They caught Vijayakumar red-handed and handed him over to Anaimalai police,” the officer added.
Representative image