

CHENNAI: In an elaborate con, a family of three a couple and their teenage daughter moved from town to town, rented houses posing as doctors and robbed their neighbours after gaining their trust.
Anna Salai police have arrested the man and his 16-year-old daughter for pulling off one of their capers at a city mall seven months ago, in June last year.
The victim, a 22-year-old woman, Punithashree from Tiruvannamalai, trusted the accused, travelled from the temple town to Chennai for a "sightseeing trip" and "photoshoot" and ended up losing 16 sovereigns of gold jewellery and two mobile phones.
The accused moved into the ground floor of the complainant's house, claiming to be doctors. After gaining trust, the accused suggested that Punithashree join them for a sightseeing trip to Chennai. Punithashree and her younger brother joined the accused's family and came to Chennai.
On reaching the city, the group went shopping at a mall in Royapettah. After shopping at a store, when Punithashree went into the trial room, the family offered to wait outside with her handbag. Her brother was in another trial room, and the couple's teenage daughter also went into a trial room. After a while, when Punithashree and her brother came outside, the family was nowhere to be found, and their phones were not reachable either.
After several hours, Punithashree filed a complaint at the Anna Salai Police station stating that the family escaped with her 16 sovereign gold jewellery and phones and returned to her hometown.
Meanwhile, the police received a tip-off about the whereabouts of the mall robber and secured Jagadish and his 16-year-old daughter. Jagadish was produced before a magistrate and remanded in judicial custody, while the minor girl was produced before the Juvenile Justice Board and sent to a government home. The wife remains absconded.
The family had used a similar modus operandi and struck in several places across the State, according to the police sources. The police said that the trio were involved in at least two other incidents in Chennai. Further investigations are under way.