VELLORE: Remember the Aamir Khan starrer PK, where an alien inserts a stick to pluck money out of a temple collection box? A 36-year-old man from Sevvappettai near Tiruvallur employed the same technique to get money out of hundials in temples and churches.
All he needed to use was a coconut leaf rib and some chewing gum. His modus operandi was simple. Chew the gum, stick it onto one end of the stiff rib and insert it into a hundial. Currency notes would stick to the gum. Then it was all about how discreetly he would extract and pocket the money.
On Sunday, he was at it as usual. But before he could get the cash out of a church hundial, a guard and devotees surrounded him. He was later arrested by Arakkonam Town Police.
The man, identified as Agnal Arokyaraj, was spotted at the Sacred Heart Church located near Arakkonam Railway Station by church guard S Pavakaranan around 7.30 pm on Sunday. He was sitting on his knees and making unusual gestures in front of a Mother Mary statue located in the church complex.
As many devotees write on a mirror box there using candles, Pavakaranan initially thought that to be the case. Anyway, he chose to walk towards the man and to his shock, saw Arokyaraj lifting a coconut stick from a hundial near the statue. The stick had currency notes at the bottom.
Pavakaranan alerted the church staff and a few devotees. They caught Arokyaraj and handed him over to the Arakkonam Town Police. Later, it came to light that he had been frequently changing jobs and had lost the last one as he frequently failed to show up for work. However, he had told his wife that he was working in a tea shop.
The accused told the police that he regularly took EMU trains to reach nearby towns from Sevvappettai. “We suspect that he may have stolen cash from hundials at many places. But we received no complaint against Arokyaraj till now,” said sub-inspector Pazhanichami.
Arokyaraj was put in custody for 15 days.