Chennai: A mobile phone thief slashed his own neck after police and public caught him after a hot chase near the Chennai airport on Thursday morning. The suspect was identified as John Paul (20), a resident of Porur, who tried to escape by driving away in his auto rickshaw along with his 18-year-old girlfriend. Events unfolded rapidly after John Paul tried to steal the mobile phone that Anand Raj had left charging in his car in front of the Old Airport. Raj was sleeping in the car when Paul took his mobile phone. Waking up when disturbed by the act, Raj saw the suspect taking the phone and escaping from the scene.
Just as Raj was alerting others, the suspect got into his auto, started it and sped away. He took a U-turn and went towards Pallavaram while Raj and a few others chased him in a car. In between, they also alerted traffic head constable Nagooran, who too began chasing the suspect on his bike. Paul took his vehicle to a market road where he hit a stone and so tried to escape from the scene by running from there. Seeing a policeman chasing him, local people surrounded him and tried to overpower him. Confronted by the angry public, he took out a penknife and starting slashing himself, inflicting injuries on his neck, hands and chest.
The policeman and public together overpowered him and took him to the Meenambakkam police station. Police also detained his girl friend, who was travelling with him, for questioning. Police are trying to find out if the couple were involved in similar crimes in any other areas. In another case of mobile snatching reported in Perungudi, police arrested three persons, including two minor boys, for allegedly robbing the cell phone of an assistant bank manager on Wednesday night. In a similar incident, St Thomas police arrested two persons, including a minor boy, for allegedly snatching the mobile phone of a college student on Wednesday late evening.
