CHENNAI: Two burglars, who broke into a locked house at Ashok Nagar, were arrested after the owner received a CCTV alert on his mobile phone.
Police said R Venkataraman (58), the house owner, and his wife were in Belgium. Around 1.30 am on Monday, Venkataraman received an alert on his phone about suspicious activity in his house. He informed his neighbour Venkatasubramaniam.
When the police team came to the house, the burglars had escaped, the police said, adding the they were caught from a spot two streets away.
The suspects have been identified as D Kamalakannan (65) of Pallavaram and A Philip (57) of Thirupatthur. The police recovered gold jewellery weighing 5.5 sovereigns, silver jewellery weighing 1.5 kg, Rs 920 in cash and 36 foreign currency notes from their possession.
Inquiries revealed Kamalakannan has 70 cases against him and Philip has 20 cases. The police said the duo had broken into an auditor’s office opposite to Venkataraman’s house before entering the house.
Meanwhile, at JJ Nagar, 27-year-old S Balamurugan tried to steal from a house at the government quarters. The house owner, Kennedy, a record clerk at the Madras HC, was out of station at the time. Around 2:45 am on Monday, Kennedy’s neighbour, who is staying upstairs, locked the grill from outside, trapping Balamurguan inside.
The JJ Nagar police caught Balamurugan who was hiding beneath a cot. He was arrested and sent in judicial remand. Police said he could not steal anything from the house.