Woman held for stealing dog flees police custody

CHENNAI: A 42-year-old woman suspected of stealing a dog from a house last month escaped from police custody at Nungambakkam police station on Tuesday. The woman, who was identified as Muthulakshmi, a native of Keezhakarai in Ramanathapuram, confessed to the theft during interrogation, said police.
The woman was caught on a CCTV camera when she returned the dog last Saturday.She was nabbed in Pushpa Nagar in Nungambakkam by residents who recognised her from the CCTV grabs which had been circulated by police.
Srinivas and Mythili, both practising law at the Madras high court, found the dog missing from their house after they returned home on September 21.
"It was a surprise for us when we received a call from the Nungambakkam police station about the apprehension of the woman suspect involved in the theft. However, we were disappointed when we realized that the woman escaped from custody," said Srinivas's daughter Padmashree., a private entrepreneur runs consultancy for people expressing themselves in public speaking. "However, we were happy as our Aggie returned home on October 1," she said. While browsing through the CCTV footage, Padmashree said, "We found a woman dropped our Aggie at the street end and walked through the street. We submitted the footage to the police personnel to trace the woman." "It was a harrowing experience for us, as we had sleepless nights for almost two weeks. We visited Koyambedu and Pushpa Nagar areas in search of the woman suspect. We knocked on numerous doorsteps and showed the picture of the woman to the residents," recalled Srinivas.
Padmashree added that many people guided them with good intentions, but their efforts turned out to be false alarms. "Seeing my Facebook page, a person replied that he saw the woman near Velachery. We scanned through all the streets in Velachery, but our efforts didn't prove successful," she said.
It was more painful to see many foreign breed dogs and pets, apart from several birds, being harassed at the Pallavaram and Broadway market, where we stayed there for more than two days. "I am so worried about those caged pets, in spite I got my pet back," said Padmashree.