CHENNAI: It had all thrills of a movie script: a thief alerts neighbours about a theft and tries to chase the ‘suspect’ and escapes. It played out in real life at Perambur on Tuesday morning.
A Srilakshmi ( 35) of Palani Andavar Kovil Street at Perambur had gone to the terrace to dry clothes. “As she was climbing down the stairs to her house in the first floor, she found the main door open. Thinking that her husband had come for lunch, she opened the door and entered the house only to find an unidentified man with a cap taking gold jewellery from a cupboard in the bedroom,” said a police officer.
“As soon, I started screaming, he pushed me towards the bed, locked the door from outside and escaped. As he was climbing down the steps, he alerted neighbours that a thief had entered her house and pushed her down,” the victim told mediapersons.
Along with a few neighbours, the thief ran on the road to nab the ‘suspect’. After a while, he managed to escape on a motorbike. Meanwhile, a few other neighbours rushed to the rescue of the woman.
“It was only after the woman described the man did they realise the thief himself had alerted neighbours,” the officer said.
Another neighbour K Ravi said, “I heard screams from the apartment and ran towards it. I saw this man run along with neighbours calling out ‘robber’. Only later, I realised that the stranger was the suspect.”
Police said the one-storey apartment complex was not equipped with CCTV cameras. But they are trying to get footage from the nearby area to trace the suspect.
Srilakshmi, wife of Ananthakrishnan, works in the postal department. Sembium police have registered a case.