The Korattur police have arrested two people — an acting driver and his associate — in connection with the theft of a car parked on the roadside.

On February 25, 2025, D. Tamilzh Selvi, a resident of Akshya Colony, Padi, lodged a complaint with the police alleging her car had been stolen from where it was parked. A professor at a private medical college, she would hire often drivers to ferry her around in her car. She said in her complaint that on the evening of February 24, the driver-on-call parked the car near her house after they returned from the college and handed the key over to her. The car was last seen by her son at around 10 p.m., the complaint said.

However, the next morning, the driver told her the car was missing, after which she lodged the complaint.

A special team of police personnel, led by Korattur Police Inspector Senguttuvan, reached the spot, and on scrutiny of CCTV footage from the area, they found that a driver she had hired previously had come to her house in an autorickshaw shortly before the crime.

The police questioned the driver of that autorickshaw, and based on his statement, they guessed the whereabouts of the hired driver.

On Sunday (March 2, 2025), they intercepted a blue-coloured car without a registration plate. The police apprehended two persons in the car: acting driver G. Kalanidhi, 44, of Nerkundram, and his associate B. Johnson, 32, of Valasaravakkam.

During the interrogation, Kalanidhi confessed he had noticed a spare key, which was broken and covered with insulation tape, on the dashboard of the car and had stolen it, the police said.

The day before the theft, he and his associate did a recce of the spot. Later, he came back and drove away in the professor’s car using the spare key.

The police said the duo removed the existing number plate and installed a fake one. They also forged the vehicle’s registration certificate. They were on the way to pledge the car when the police caught them.