Unemployed Man Arrested For Theft, Indore Police Provides Ration to His Poor Kin

A 23-year-old driver, who was rendered jobless due to the coronavirus-induced lockdown, was held for attempted theft here, but the police later provided ration to his family after he told about his poor financial condition to them, an official said on Thursday.

Sub inspector of Aerodrum Police Station, Kalpana Chauhan, said that the man had sneaked into a deserted house in a colony here on Tuesday evening.

On being alerted about it, the police reached the spot and found that the door was locked from inside, she said.

"The police team broke the door and entered the house in the presence of the local residents only to find various things scattered on the floor and the cupboard open. During the search, a man, later identified as Rohit, was found hiding in the house," Chauhan said.

"When the police questioned the accused why he entered the house and tried to steal things from there, he said that he used to work as a driver in the city before the lockdown. However, he was rendered jobless ever since the lockdown came into force two months back," she said.

"The accused told us that his financial condition is very bad and his family is finding it hard to arrange food. He said that the Indore Municipal Corporation had provided free ration to his family once, which was now over," she said.

According to her, when the police visited Rohit's house as part of the probe, they found his elderly mother and young brother there. The police found that what the accused had told them about his family's financial condition was true.

"After coming to know about their situation, we made arrangements of ration for the poor family on humanitarian grounds," Chauhan added.

However, since theft is a criminal act, appropriate legal action was taken against the accused, she said.

"He could have asked for help from other people instead of trying to steal," she said.

A case was registered against the accused under IPC sections 380 (theft), 454 (forcible entry into the house) and section 511 (attempt to commit offenses punishable with life imprisonment or other imprisonment), Chauhan said.

He was produced in a local court on Wednesday, which remanded him in judicial custody for 14 days, she added.