Car lifter held in Royapuram, 2 associates nabbed in districts

Alimuthu of West Mada Temple Street, an independent car driver, parked his car in front of his house on November 25 but the vehicle was missing the next morning. After he lodged a complaint, the Royapuram police went through the CCTV footage which showed two men driving away the car. 

An investigation revealed that the two men were part of a trio that hired the car a few days ago. After Alimuthu informed the police that they were staying at a lodge at Parry’s Corner, the police went to the spot and arrested one of them, identified as Siddique.

Based on his inputs, the other two – Padmavathy Shanmugam (28) of Madurai and Anish (28) of Marthandam – were secured from their respective towns. The stolen car, which was sold with fake number plate, was seized from Thiruvananthapuram.

Police said that Alimuthu had parked his car near the lodge they were staying as the trio had hired the vehicle for three days. On the second day, Anish asked Alimuthu for the car keys claiming that he had left his Aadhaar card in the car. 

“They made duplicate keys and returned the original keys to Alimuthu. He took the car home at the end of the third day and parked the vehicle near his house. The gang stole the car on the same day,” said the police.

While Siddique stayed back in the city to avoid suspicion, the other two took the car to sell it. “Anish changed the number plates in Marthandam and sold the car in Thiruvananthapuram,” said the police. All three were remanded in judicial custody.