Notorious thief who stole actress Anusree's car arrested

KOTTARAKKARA: Police have arrested the notorious thief who stole the car of renowned Malayalam actress Anusree from a Pay and Park in Kollam. The arrested person has been identified as Thiruvananthapuram Nedumangad Thenoor native Prabin (29). Prabin stole the actress's Mahindra XUV car on Saturday night.

The car worth Rs 6.75 lakhs was parked in the Pay and Park at Inchakkadu in Kottarakkara. While travelling in this car, Prabin stopped it near a workshop in Kadakkal. He then removed the license plates from an Innova car parked near the workshop and installed them on the Mahindra XUV. Later in the day, Prabin broke into a rubber shop in Vellarada in Thiruvananthapuram and stole 500 kilograms of rubber sheets and Rs 7,000.

The next day, he went to Pathanamthitta in the same car and broke into another rubber shop in the Perinad area, stealing 400 kilograms of rubber sheets. He sold these rubber sheets in Ponkunnam. While travelling to Kozhikode with the money, the car hit another vehicle near Pala in Kottayam. Suspecting that police officers might be in the other vehicle, Prabin fled without stopping the car and later abandoned the vehicle in a nearby deserted plot. He then returned to Thiruvananthapuram in a KSRTC bus. Prabin was travelling from Thiruvananthapuram to Kozhikode on his own bike when he was arrested by the police at around 11 am yesterday at Faith Home Junction in Kottarakkara.

The details of the theft came out when the police questioned him due to suspicion. The accused was arrested by a team led by Kottarakkara CI S Jayakrishnan and SI AR Abhilash. The accused has been remanded.

Prabin's method is to use the stolen cars after changing their number plates. He used to steal CCTV cameras and hard drives from the area where the theft occurred and discard them in nearby rivers, ponds, and fields. He does not go to petrol pumps with stolen vehicles. He is notorious for stealing fuel from vehicles parked by the roadside. He travels in the vehicles during the day and carries out the theft at night.