Mason by day, burglar at night: 25-year-old arrested in Thanjavur

TIRUCHY: Thanjavur police, on Friday, arrested a 25-year-old youth, who works as a mason in the daytime and turns burglar during the night hours. Police said over 10 burglary cases are pending against him in various districts.

On January 8, when Charles (63), a resident of Dr Moorthy Road in Kumbakonam after sending off his son to Chennai, returned home and found the doors open. He found that the almirah was broken and a cash of Rs 30,000 went missing. He filed a complaint with Kumbakonam East police who registered a case and were searching for the culprit.

Meanwhile, the Kumbakonam police continued to receive similar complaints with the same modus operandi and they informed SP R Rajaram who ordered a special team to look into the issue.

A special team led by the Kumbakonam DSP Keerthivasan was formed. After an investigation, the police found that Asaithambi (25), from Sayanapuram near Pandanallur in Thanjavur, was the culprit and on Thursday late hours, the special team arrested him.

They brought him to Kumbakonam but he attempted to escape from the police custody. However, the police secured him after a brief chase in which Asaithambi fell and fractured his leg. The police rushed him to Kumbakonam GH.

The probe revealed that Asaithambi, who is a mason by profession, used to notice the locked houses wherever he went for construction work and burgle the houses during night hours.

Asaithambi further surprised the police saying that he used to give the entire wages that he received as a mason to his wife but whatever he got in the burglary, he spent it lavishly with his friends.

The police later found that Asaithambi was involved in more than 10 burglary cases in Coimbatore, Mayiladuthurai, and Thanjavur districts.