60-year-old chases, nabs thief wanted in more than 20 cases

CHENNAI: A 60-year-old man chased and caught a thief involved in 24 cases of stealing cables from BSNL towers in Tiruvallur and Ponneri since December 2012.
M Loganathan, who lives in Eakadu village near Tiruvallur, nabbed the accused, G Siva, who pretended to be an employee of a private company checking the electricity meter at the tower. Other residents caught the driver of the autorickshaw in which he tried to escape.
After a series of cable and battery thefts from BSNL towers at Ponneri, Tiruttani and Tiruvallur, BSNL officials has asked people living near the towers to be alert and inform them if anything was amiss.
"We received a call from Loganathan, who is a BJP worker and coordinator of the Tiruttani sugar factory workers' union. He said that a man from a firm in Hyderabad had come to check the meter at the tower," a police officer said.
Sub-divisional engineer (maintenance) Mohammad Hidayathullah and junior telecom officer K Palanivel rushed to the place. The man hopped into the auto he used for his thefts to escape, and Loganathan gave a chase.
"Some villagers broke the windshield of the auto and nabbed the autorickshaw driver, Chinnaiyan. The thief Siva took off on foot and I ran after him," Loganathan told TOI over phone. BSNL plans to honour Loganathan. "Our measures to involve the public have helped prevent the theft. We will honour Loganathan for his sincerity. We are happy that people are coming forward to alert us," said BSNL spokeswoman G Vijaya. The accused were handed over to the Pullarambakkam police, near Tiruvallur. They were identified as G Siva, 22, native of Hyderabad, and Chinnaiyan, 38, a resident of Edapalayam Street in Elephant Gate. The duo confessed to having committed similar offences at 24 other places in Ponneri, Tiruttani and Tiruvallur.
Siva told police he had dropped out of an electronics and communication engineering diploma course in Hyderabad. He got autorickshaw driver Chinnaiyan to help him.
A senior BSNL officer said that they had lodged several complaints, along with the mobile number of the accused, at the Chennai police commissioner's office but nothing had been done earlier. Police said the accused could have about 60 cases pending against him in Chennai.