Drunk man dozed off after stealing from house, caught

CHENNAI: A 27-year-old construction worker who broke into a house in Adyar slept off after getting drunk.

When the occupants returned home from Varanasi on Friday, they raised an alarm finding a stranger in their bed. The accused, Ezhumalai, managed to flee, but was arrested by the police.

On Friday around midnight, the occupants of the house, Ranganathan and his wife returned from Varanasi to find the door open and a stranger lying on the bed, police said.

As the intruder fled, a police complaint was filed. Police found that he had stolen Rs 40,000 cash, foreign currencies and had also eaten food from the refrigerator.

Police traced the accused to an under construction site, where he works.

The accused, Ezhumalai stays in a rental house in Villivakkam and works as a construction labourer. He is also involved in petty thefts, said police.

He was already inebriated when he entered the apartment near his work site and he found the door open and stole valuables and dozed off, a senior police officer said.

Investigations revealed that Ranganathan had asked his son who lives in the same complex to keep the door open as they were reaching around midnight.