After arrest, 84-yr-old conman reveals his 7 decade-tryst with theft

The senior citizen’s talents came to light after the Mylapore police arrested him last week in connection with a jewellery theft case. He was caught on a CCTV camera during the heist and four sovereigns were recovered from him.

During interrogation, Srinivasan revealed that he had been stealing since he was 14. He began his career as a fortune teller and quickly became quite popular. 

Soon, Srinivasan began to visit his patrons’ homes promising to ward off the evil eye and purify their jewels. Taking advantage of this, he started stealing jewels and since he was never suspected, he turned it into a practice.

His method was simple — he would target families of the community he belongs to as it was easy for him to gain their trust. Later, Srinivasan would visit their house, pretending to ward off evil, and ask them to put their jewels in water. During the process, he would steal only one of the jewels and leave the house without anyone suspecting the theft.

The master thief’s modus operandi, when it came to dealing with the police, too was simple. He had been arrested in different cities but he would always admit the crime, serve his prison time and right after his release, get back to stealing. The police said that Srinivasan’ earned his nickname after his first few stealing sprees during which he used to target only silver jewellery.

Even though he is from Kumbakonam, Srinivasan does not have a permanent address. He would make use of bus tokens given to elderly people and travel according to his stealing schedule.

Yet, despite stealing for over 70 years, Srinivasan claimed that his motive was never to amass wealth for himself but to only to meet his bare necessities of food and clothes. He never married and even though he is 84, police sources at Mylapore station said that that he was physically strong and active. 

“He does not seem to have any other bad habit and does not skip meals,” said a police officer. Srinivasan was remanded in judicial custody on Monday and is lodged in Puzhal prison.