Chennai: Rs 7 lakh recovered from pocket picker
14 passengers robbed of cash on buses
By : DC Correspondent
Update: 2015-08-06 05:26 GMT
Chennai: Police on Tuesday arrested a 32-year-old pocket picker for targeting passengers in MTC buses and robbing them, and recovered Rs 7 lakh from him. Going by the claims of the cops, this is the first time such a huge amount has been recovered from a pickpocket accused by the city police.
The accused M. Muthu, a native of Kuppam in Chittor district, Andhra Pradesh has been indulging in the crime for the past three years, MGR Nagar inspector (Crime), Sidhartha Sankar Rai told DC.
He usually targets buses plying in T.Nagar, Ashok nagar, K.K.Nagar and nearby areas and steals wallets and handbags from passengers. After a major haul, he usually goes back to his native village and spends them. “We narrowed down his movement based on inputs by one of our informers. He was picked up near the K.K.Nagar bus terminus on Monday,” an investigating officer said.
Special teams were formed to track the accused after the T.Nagar district cops received several complaints from passengers over the past month, a police officer said adding that the accused had stolen from as many as 14 passengers in the time.
After investigations, he confessed to his role in the thefts after which a special team accompanied him to his native village and recovered the booty. “It is not clear if he has indulged in chain-snatchings in buses also,” the officer added.
Further, the officer claimed that the village where the accused hails from is notorious for breeding several such offenders who usually indulge in petty thefts in the city. Muthu was produced before a magistrate court and remanded to judicial custody.