A widely circulated WhatsApp video, a CCTV footage grab, landed a man, suspected to be a mobile phone thief, in police net on Wednesday.
Pilakkal Nazeer, 56, of Bengaluru was picked up from the Aluva railway station by the Kalamassery police after shop owners in the area reportedly identified him in the video.
The accused has two cases registered against him on charges of stealing mobile phones — one at LuLu Mall in 2018 and the other at Edappally on April 6 this year.
According to the police, Nazeer, impeccably dressed, used to visit mobile phone outlets pretending to buy phones.
“He would pretend to be examining the phones on display which had the anti-theft alarm facility. In the process, the alarm would go off.
“He would ask the shop employees to deactivate the code so as to enable him to have a better look without the alarm going off. He would slip away with the phone when not being noticed by the employees,” said P.G. Madhu, Sub Inspector, Kalamassery.
The accused, however, declined to reveal what he used to do with the mobile phones despite the police confronting him with the video of the alleged theft.
He also complained of uneasiness owing to low sugar.
The police have slapped him with a case under Section 379 of the Indian Penal Code (theft).
