Idukki: It may have been an act of daring or desperation - to ask the police for ticket fare after a midnight robbery and with a pocket swelling with cash. A thief who stole Rs 2 lakhs from a textile shop at Thodupuzha walked right into a police patrol team and the cops didn't take long to take him into custody.
The incident happened on Tuesday around 3:30 am. The suspect, Radhakrishnan, a resident of Villupuram in Tamil Nadu was caught when Thodupuzha Sub Inspector KE Najeeb and his team on night patrol halted to check a vehicle parked on the road. They saw a man walking from a distance and the moment he saw the cops, he walked away.
The police followed him and intercepted him. When asked, Radhakrishnan said that he had come to work in a hotel at Thodupuzha and was going back to Tamil Nadu as he did not like his job. He even said he was broke and asked for help to return to Tamil Nadu.
The SI noticed that his pocket was bulging with cash and found that he was carrying Rs 6,000. The police grew suspicious and he was frisked. The police recovered Rs 2 lakhs hidden in his underwear. Radhakrishnan initially claimed that it was his savings from a hotel job. During further questioning, he confessed that he had stolen the money from a textile shop. Since he was new to the town, he couldn't identify the shop from where he had stolen the money.
Later, the police informed the people about the theft through WhatsApp groups. By morning, the owner of the textile shop at Thodupuzha Kotayikunnu confirmed the theft.
He was produced in the court and remanded in judicial custody. CCTV visuals showed Radhakrishan trying to smash the glass window of the shop with wood. He got in by wrenching the door handle, the visuals showed.