A special squad from the Kottarakara police station on Thursday arrested Nidhin alias Tipper Anil for stealing a Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRCTC) bus.
The police were on the lookout for the 29-year-old for the past two weeks and he was arrested from a service station in Palakkad. He was produced at the court and remanded in judicial custody.
At Parippally
According to police officials, Nidhin is mentally unstable and has a history of lifting vehicles parked on the roadside for his personal use and later abandoning them. “All vehicles he stole were retrieved and he has never tried to sell any of them,” an official said. On the day of the theft, he had travelled from Chengannur to Pandalam by foot and then hitch-hiked to reach the Kottarakara bus stand. “He arrived there around 9.30 p.m. and after finding out that the next service to Parippally was at 5.30 a.m., he decided to lift a bus. He took the bypass route to reach Parippally, and after arriving in his destination, he left the bus there,” the official added. Later, Nidhin moved to Palakkad and he was working in a service station when the arrest was made.
RAC 354-KL 15/7508 Venad bus from the Kottarakara depot was reported missing on February 8 and later found near Parippally. The driver had parked the bus near the municipal office the day before and the KSRTC authorities could not find the bus anywhere near the depot. After a search to confirm that the bus had been stolen, the officials had filed a case with the Kottarakara police.
Later, the bus was found abandoned at Parippally. The police had collected CCTV footage to identify the thief and Nidhin was traced with the help of the cyber cell by tracking his mobile phone tower location.
