Two thieves, who had field day at Jayalalithaa's funeral, arrested

Chennai: Two thieves, who were on a pickpocket spree during former Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa's funeral, were caught by people who gave the duo a sound thrashing before handing them over to the cops, on Tuesday evening.

The duo was identified as M. Suresh (36) and M. Dinesh (26), comrades-in-arms residing in Gudiyatham, Vellore district. They were caught while they were operating in the crowd near Rajaji Hall where Jaya's body lay in state for people to pay their respects.

The duo had managed to pocket nearly Rs 30,000 and as many as 10 mobile phones. The stolen property was recovered and retained by the cops. As many as four victims who dialled their own numbers got the information that their devices were with Triplicane Police. The said victims were asked to produce the bill copies of their mobile phones and they were returned after verifying the EMI numbers. Similarly, the rest of the stolen mobile phones were kept switched on so that the owners can reclaim it by contacting their own numbers.

“The duo has a history of crime in Vellore and other areas in the vicinity. They would shift their operations to crowded venues like this. They had no proper jobs to make ends meet. The funeral, which saw the attendance of lakhs of people, turned out to be their gold mine location, as emotional participants will be less vigilant towards their belongings. They are being remanded to judicial custody,” said a senior police official.

Another man who was speaking only in Telugu and believed to have come to pocket valuables from the crowd was handed over to the cops. Some cash were recovered from him and he is being interrogated.