CHENNAI: The Vadapalani police have arrested a 42-year-old man for allegedly stealing a laptop and mobile phone belonging to an 18-year-old engineering student from a food court in a city mall earlier this month.

The accused has been identified as Muhammad Nasrullah, a native of Coimbatore currently staying on a platform in Chennai. He was produced before a court in Saidapet on Thursday night and remanded in judicial custody.

According to the police, Bharani Lakshmi, a first-year computer engineering student at Sri Manakula Vinayagar Engineering College in Puducherry, attended a workshop at a college in Vadapalani on February 9. Later, around 5.30 pm she visited a mall on Arcot Road.

While at the food court on the third floor, she placed her shoulder bag on a table and went to get food. When she returned a few minutes later, the bag containing her laptop worth Rs 90,000 and a mobile phone worth Rs 70,000 was missing.

Based on a complaint, the police began scanning CCTV footage from the mall. The footage showed an unidentified man taking the bag.

Around 2 pm on Thursday, a police team from the Royapettah crime wing spotted a man moving suspiciously with a laptop and phone. Upon interrogation, the suspect reportedly confessed to stealing the bag from the mall.

The Royapettah police immediately alerted the Vadapalani crime wing.

A team from Vadapalani station came to the spot, brought the accused, later identified as Nasrullah, to the Vadapalani station.

Following interrogation, the police recovered both the laptop and the mobile phone, valued at a total of Rs. 1.6 lakh.

Preliminary inquiry revealed that Nasrullah was previously arrested in connection with a theft case by the Vadapalani police.