The police on Tuesday arrested three persons allegedly involved in a series of thefts of computers and peripherals from a leading hardware manufacturer.
The also seized eight laptops, one desktop, three monitors, four keyboards, three web cameras, three tablets, nine hard disks and other accessories, all worth Rs.6.5 lakh.
Kumaran of Pappanchavady, Vanchinathan of Panruti and Jerald Raj were identified as accused. They were remanded to judicial custody.
The stolen goods were seized from the residence of Kumaran.
On June 22, Thomas Varghese, Deputy Manager of HCL Info Systems Limited, lodged a complaint with the Sedarapet police station about the theft of a laptop and other computer accessories from the company.
A special team spotted two persons standing near an ATM at Sedarapet, with two laptops in a bag.
When cornered, they confessed to the crime; and based on their statement, one more was arrested.
Senior Superintendent of Police Omvir Singh said the company stopped manufacturing activity some time ago and had been stocking the manufactured products on the factory premises.
Two technicians involved“Investigators have found that the thefts were carried out by two technicians with the connivance of the security guard,” he said.
“They stole the products from the company and sold them at cheaper rates in the open market. Whenever the two technicians were on duty, they took the products to the scrap yard. With the help of the security guard, they moved them to their homes and later sold them,” said Superintendent of Police (Rural) V. Deivasigamani.