Kochi: Kunnathunadu police busted a racket which was plotting thefts in rural areas of the district on Tuesday night and arrested three persons, including a minor.
The arrested persons were identified as Subin Kanjirathingal, 22, of Varappetty, Kothamangalam and Devadathan Palathanigal, 18, of Karingachira, Irumbanam. The third accused person was a minor, police said.
According to police, the three-member gang used to travel around on bikes during the day to identify potential targets. They used to carry out thefts at night by travelling to the targeted houses in an autorickshaw and a bike. Police have seized the autorickshaw that they used to travel in and a bike which they stole from Pallikkara.
Ernakulam Rural SP K Karthick had formed a special team to track down the accused and they landed in police net as the investigations were progressing, said a source. “On Tuesday night, the accused were spotted by a police team and they tried to escape seeing the cops. The policemen however chased them down, overpowered them and took them into custody,” said an officer.
Police said that Subin was a history-sheeter and had a case against him for theft in Kothamangalam police station in 2016. Devadathan is also a history-sheeter and has six cases against him in Hill Palace and Puthencruz stations.
The accused were arrested by a team of officers led by DSP EP Reji, inspector V T Shajan, SIs M P Aby, O V Sajan and K P Eliyas; ASI CO Sajeev; SCPO Abdul Manaf; CPO T Sandeep, Prabhakaran and Robin Joy. He was presented in court and was remanded in judicial custody. SP Karthick said night patrolling has been strengthened and special teams have been deployed for the purpose.
