Disguised as man, burglar stumps arresting police

Chennai: The quest for gender parity is all-pervasive and, sometimes, quite literally too.

Officials at Seven Wells police station were in for a surprise when they discovered one of the three male burglars they arrested was a woman.

Adopting the name ‘Dayalan’, wearing her hair short and preferring casual clothes like T-shirts, the young woman led police on a merry chase — till a gang member betrayed her and the rest of their thieving band. So convincingly did she pull off her assumed character, that arresting officers did not guess that they had taken a woman into custody even after they had them secured in a police station.

Karthika alias Dayalan finally gave up the charade when officers asked her and other members of the gang to strip, so that they could make note of distinguishing marks to their bodies and not allow the suspects to conceal weapons or any sharp objects that they could use to harm themselves.

During questioning, she told police, “I don’t want to be judged as a woman and inferior to man. I have proved myself as a ‘brave’

burglar

.”

Police nabbed Peter, 18, of Pencil Factory in Washermenpet, in the act of stealing from the house of Manivannan, 60, of Kondithope near Vallalar Nagar on Wednesday.

During inquiries, he told police about his associates. A police team nabbed them from a hideout in Washermenpet. They were identified as Dayalan and Babu Vijay, 18. Police recovered 10 stolen iPhones and two laptops from them.

Further inquiry is on to know more about the trio’s involvement in other criminal cases. Police have lifted their fingerprints and sent them to the state crime record bureau to verify if they match with any police records.


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