‘Director’ scripts burglaries to fund film, lands in jail

Until of course, his luck ran out. Pandian, 34, (the director), along with four others, was arrested for conspiring to loot locked houses in Namakkal district on Sunday. He planned the burglaries in order to fund his film.

“As a movie which he was shooting stopped midway due to financial crunch, Pandian decided to get money from alternative sources and thus the plan to rob locked homes,” a police officer said.

His co-conspirators were identified as Ravi Kumar, 52, a driver from Namagiripettai, Vijayakumar, 41, a cook from Perambalur, Kannan alias Davaneshwaran, 49, a realtor from Tiruchy and Pradeep Saran, 25, an advocate from Kancheepuram district.

On Saturday night, a police team led by Namagiripettai inspector Ilango was patrolling Puduppatty-Namagiripettai Road, when they noticed a stationary car. While approaching the car cautiously, the cops saw a group of five bickering among themselves. The moment the police approached them, the group developed cold feet, jumped into the car and tried to flee. However, they couldn’t go too far before the police intercepted their vehicle.

Initially, the five gave out contradictory replies. This made the cops more suspicious and the group was taken to the station for interrogation. They confessed to their plan of burgling houses and the five said the cops caught them when they were conducting a recce of locked houses. The accused were produced in Rasipuram court and lodged in Salem Central Prison. Police also seized their car.