Hardly 48 hours after he had gone on a burglary spree in the city when he broke into four places on a single night, the same culprit seems to be at it again as he stole ₹40,000, this time from an advertising firm at Pulleppady in the early hours of Thursday, leaving the city police in a spot of bother.
Going by CCTV grabs, the suspect is believed to be the infamous Muthuselvan from Tamil Nadu, dreaded for his violent reaction to those who confront him while committing the crime. He hit Clouds Advertising on Adv Easwara Iyer Road after breaking into the office. The dog squad and fingerprint experts reached the spot and collected evidence on Thursday morning.
As in the previous burglaries, he had made no attempt to damage the CCTVs or cover his face, thus leaving behind his clear images.
He also seems to have followed his regular modus operandi, using two iron bars, which he might have got from a construction site in the vicinity, as the main tool in breaking open the door of the office located on the first floor of a building.
According to the police, the burglar hit the door multiple times with the iron bars and then entered the office through the gap created after a piece of the door gave away.
The CCTV footage shows that the accused had spent not less than one-and-a-half hours and could be seen exiting the office around 5 a.m. The footage shows him going into the accountant’s room where he breaks open the cash box. He, however, left computers and other equipment in the office untouched. The firm had no security guards.
City police sources said that they had tightened patrolling and that the burglar would be caught soon. There were unverified reports that the accused had tried to break into a house on Chittoor Road before the theft at the advertising firm but reportedly abandoned the plan after the family was alerted by the noise.
The same thief is suspected to have hit three business firms - a dental clinic, a non-banking financial institution, a printing press - on Tuesday night. He had also broken into a house on Divan’s Road and made away with gold coins and cash.
