Contrary to popular perception that thieves go around in tattered clothes and dishevelled hair, burglars in the city were found to roam in a high-end sedan to identify houses which they targeted later. Unfortunately, the sedan the burglars used helped the Abiramapuram police track them with the help of CCTV footage.
Following a series of complaints of missing gold jewellery, silver articles and electronic gadgets from houses at Abiramapuram, a special team of police personnel analysed CCTV footage, which revealed that it was the handiwork of a few unidentified persons.
Sustained investigation gave a vital clue: a sedan was spotted near a house at Jet Nagar, from where 56 sovereigns of gold jewellery, silver articles and a laptop were taken away.
The police collected details of 2,836 cars from the company. Among them, 750 were identified to be of a particular brand. The police started tracking a carbon brown coloured sedan. But there were 230 such cars in the city. The registration started with TN-06. On further investigation, the police found that 36 persons were using the car with similar registration.
After an analysis of the design of the alloy wheel used in the car of the offenders, the police, with the help of the Transport Department, found out that the car was originally bought by one Sujatha and it changed hands seven times. Marimuthu, 26, of Vinayagapuram, Karanai Puthucheri, was the last buyer.
Once Marimuthu was tracked down, the police nabbed his associates, one after the other. Marimuthu used to go in the car with his associates Seenuvasan, 28, of Alandur, Rajesh, 27, of Kovur, Siva alias Sankar, 37, of Madipakkam and Lakshmikumar, 37, of Pali district, Rajasthan.
“Our initial investigation revealed that the gang of three ex-convicts bought the sedan after stealing money and valuables from a house. They moved around in the car and indulged in more burglaries,” ACP Kotturpuram K.N. Sudharsan told The Hindu.
The gang used to park the car near the targeted house during daytime for observation. Between 2 a.m. and 3.30 a.m., they would masktheir faces and gain entry into the houses. They covered the CCTV cameras to evade identification and took away the valuables.
The police also arrested Nagoorkani, 33, of Royapuram, who helped the gang in selling off the jewellery. The police recovered 3 kg of silver and 60 sovereigns of gold jewellery. Further investigation is on.