Kosapet Auto Driver Arrested for Pulianthope House Burglary After Fingerprint Match

A 23-year-old auto-rickshaw driver was arrested by the Basin Bridge police on Saturday in connection with a burglary at a house in Pulianthope, where Rs 46,000 in cash was stolen on August 19. Investigators identified the suspect after forensic experts matched latent fingerprints lifted from the crime scene with records from a 2023 criminal case.

The accused has been identified as Dineshkumar, a resident of Kosapet. According to police, Dineshkumar had been in a relationship with the daughter of the complainant, 38-year-old Selvi, for the past six years.

The incident came to light early Wednesday morning when Selvi, who operates a tiffin stall near Periamet, returned to her Pulianthope home around 1 a.m. after closing her business for the night. Upon entering, she discovered that the lock on her bureau had been broken and Rs 46,000 in cash was missing from inside.

Following a complaint lodged by Selvi, the Basin Bridge police registered a case and initiated an investigation. A team from the forensic department was dispatched to inspect the premises and gather physical evidence. Fingerprint samples recovered from the house were cross-checked against existing police databases, yielding a positive match with a suspect involved in an earlier criminal case registered in 2023.

Police said the fingerprint trail pointed directly to Dineshkumar. Inquiries revealed that the suspect had visited the house on the night of the incident. After noticing that no one was at home, he allegedly broke inside using a screwdriver, broke open the bureau, and took the cash.

Following his arrest on Saturday, the police recovered an auto-rickshaw from Dineshkumar's possession. He was produced before a magistrate and remanded to judicial custody.