Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Tricksters confess to 11 thefts

CHENNAI: Interrogation of two suspects involved in a robbery case led to the detection of 11 theft cases in the city on Wednesday.

The police said P. Krishnamurthy (35) of T.P Chathiram, working in the Fire and Rescue Services, had lodged a complaint that two persons K. Sasi alias Sasikumar (29) of Kakkan Colony and V.Mani alias Manikandan (28) of Vyasarpadi had snatched his 1.5 sovereign gold chain and Rs.500 at knife-point on Monday. A team that investigated the case arrested the accused. During interrogation, they confessed to have committed at least 11 thefts in the recent past. Their modus operandi was to intercept women in remote areas and advise them to keep their jewellery safe. They would offer to pack the jewels in a piece of paper.

While posing as policemen or social workers, they would explain how unsafe it was to move with valuables in the locality. During the process, one of the accused would replace the jewellery with small stones and cheat the victim. Stolen jewellery worth Rs. 5 lakh were seized from them.

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