It has emerged that one of the three migrants arrested by the Panangad police for the alleged theft of a car at Krishnagiri in Tamil Nadu using a container trailer has around 10 theft cases registered against him by the Delhi police alone.
Saikul, 32, of Bharatpur, Rajasthan, was the one accused in multiple cases. The police are verifying whether the other two – Saddam, 38, from Mewat in Haryana, and Najeer Ahammed, 33, from Nuh in Haryana – have any criminal antecedents.
A team from the Tamil Nadu police interrogated the accused at the Panangad police station on Wednesday (July 16, 2025). According to police sources, the accused was into vehicle theft using the container trailer engaged for delivery of cargo. Even in the instant case, the car was stolen while en route to Nettoor within the Panangad police station limits to deliver air conditioners.
The stolen vehicle is then used to carry out thefts locally before abandoning it to flee with the theft proceeds. The police also suspect the gang to be into ATM robbery after gas cutter and other such equipment were recovered from the trailer.
The State control room of the police had on Monday (July 14, 2025) midnight issued an alert that a Rajasthan-registered trailer suspected of being involved in the theft of a car from Krishnagiri had crossed the border into Kerala. The Panangad police found the Rajasthan-registered trailer parked near the Nettoor mosque under suspicious circumstances with three persons inside on Tuesday (July 15, 2025) at around 3.30 a.m.
Shortly after the suspects were brought to the Panangad police station, Najeer, on the pretext of a bathroom break, reportedly bolted the toilet from inside and fled by breaking down the toilet window. However, he was chased down by the police.
In the ensuing interrogation, the accused reportedly confessed to have stolen the car by driving it inside the trailer. They had kept the car hidden in Krishnagiri itself. The Tamil Nadu police recovered the car.
Published – July 17, 2025 01:39 am IST
