In Tamil Nadu, two brothers steal goats to fund movie, held – Times of India

Chennai News

CHENNAI: It would have worked as a script for a comic movie — two brothers stealing goats to help fund a movie their father was producing with them in the lead.
But that’s exactly what V Niranjan Kumar, 30, and his brother Lenin Kumar, 32, of New Washermenpet had been doing for the last three years before the Madhavaram police arrested them on Saturday.
It turns out the money they were making was not a joke either. They stole eight to ten goats a day and sold each for around ₹8,000. They would drive around the deserted rural stretches of Chengalpet, Madhavaram, Minjur and Ponneri on the lookout for likely animals that were grazing by the roadside. If no one was round the brothers would quickly pick one or two up, bundle them into their car and speed away. They would repeat the theft at multiple locations, always careful not to steal more than one or two from a herd.
As a result, no one bothered to complain to the police about the loss of a goat or two. Their luck ran out when they stole a goat from Palani of Madhavaram on October 9. Palani only had half a dozen goats and the loss of one upset him enough to lodge a police complaint.
The police checked CCTV footage from the area and found the thieves had come in a car, but its registration number was not visible. During their investigation, Madhavaram police found a lot of people in the area had regularly lost a goat or two. So the police deployed personnel in civvies in the locality to keep a watch. On Saturday, they caught the two brothers while they were trying to steal a goat that was lying on the road.
Police said the duo’s father, Vijay Shankar, was producing a film titled ‘Nee Thaan Raja’ featuring his sons in the lead roles. Shooting was stopped midway due for lack of money. That’s when the sons decided to help out.
Police said that in the beginning the two used to meet goatherds in isolated places telling them they were scouting locations for films and sweet talk them into selling a couple of goats for a pittance. They then moved on to theft, believing that people wouldn’t complain if they lost a goat or two and that even if they did the police would not take such cases seriously. The two are now in judicial custody.

Source: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/heroes-in-dads-movie-they-stole-goats-to-fund-it/articleshow/79161947.cms