Cops declare 4 suspected bike thieves innocent

Four persons who police earlier claimed were bike thief suspects because they were seen altering a CCTV camera at Ice House, have been now found to be innocent. 

CHENNAI: Four persons who police earlier claimed were bike thief suspects because they were seen altering a CCTV camera at Ice House, have been now found to be innocent. Police claimed that CCTV cameras helped them to spot the suspects. However, in the present case, they went just by the camera footage. It has now been proved that the four are innocents, police said. 

The men said they have now lost their jobs and are being shunned by their neighbours. They claimed they turned the camera to prevent a motorcycle from being stolen. On Wednesday, police personnel during patrol, noticed that the CCTV camera at Haji Sheik Hussein Street at Ice House turned the other way and retrieved the footage.The footage showed four men trying to unlock a bike on December 17 and after seeing the CCTV camera, they turned towards the bike and left the spot. 

Ice House police alleged the men to be bike thieves and launched a hunt for them, releasing the footage to the media on December 26.  However, the four told the media they were not thieves.“I own a roadside fast food shop at Ice House and on December 17, I lost my bike key and at midnight I called my friends to help me open the bike,” said one of the four. He added, “Since we could not start the bike, we left the vehicle on the road and turned the CCTV camera towards my bike so that it wouldn’t be not stolen”.

After the footage was spread on social media dubbing them ‘comedy thieves’ who did not know they would be caught even if they turned the camera, they reached the Icehouse police station.

“I showed my documents to police and proved them that it was my bike and explained to them what happened,” he said. A senior police officer said, “We did not file any case against the men.”

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The New Indian Express
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