CHENNAI: The city police on Friday arrested a man for stealing the car of a Kodambakkam businessman, whose daughter he connived with on
Facebook to plan and commit the crime.
Investigators said
Shanmugarajan, 47, lodged a complaint with police, alleging that his car had gone missing, stolen he presumed, from the garage in his residence, not knowing the role his daughter had played in the vanishing act.
"We probed the case and suspected, from early on, that Shanmugarajan's daughter had something to do with the crime, because she made contradictory statements when speaking to us," a police officer said.
She made several calls to Chandru, 28, of
Kalyanapuram
in
Vyasarpadi
, before the theft, police found.
"Chandru, a marking executive with a pharmaceutical firm, and the businessman's daughter were friends on Facebook," he said. "The woman told Chandru she was in need of money but said her father refused to give her any cash. She suggested that Chandru steal her father's Mahendra Xylo."
She offered to help Chandru steal the multiple utility vehicle (
MUV
) - which costs more than 10 lakh for a top-of-the-line model - and he agreed.
"Chandru used a duplicate key and escaped with the vehicle at night," the officer said. "Shanmugarajan woke up the next morning found the car missing."
The officer said Chandru hid the MUV in an empty storeroom in Vyasarpadi while he attempted to sell the vehicle. A police team arrested him just as he was preparing to sell the vehicle to the man with whom he had struck a deal.
"Chandru was not involved in prior offences," the officer said, adding that police let off the businessman's daughter with a warning.
A magistrate's court sent Chandru to jail.
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