Palakkad: The video of a school teacher advising a thief who was nabbed by the police for attempting to rob her house has gone viral on social media. “If I had a son, he would have been of your age now,” she was seen advising the thief in the video. The incident happened during an evidence collection by the police in Thrithala. 

The school teacher was identified as Muthu Lakshmi, a native of Thrithala. The attempted robbery happened on September 14 early morning at the teacher’s residence, ‘Lakshmi Vilasam’. She was out of station that day. 

The thief was identified as Ismail (31), a native of Irikkur in Kannur. Ismail, who had looted another house in the teacher’s neighbourhood on the very same day, was eventually arrested by the Thrithala police yesterday. The episode of Muthulakshmi advicing Ismail took place when the latter was brought to her residence by the police for evidence collection.       

“Son, you should never repeat this mistake again in your life. I teach students starting from LKG. By the time I turned 38 years old, I had lost my father, mother, and husband. I have two daughters. One of my daughters completed her degree very recently and has landed a job. We have absolutely no savings. Try to understand our situation. Similarly, all the other families are also struggling really hard to keep their lives moving forward. From now on, behave in a decent manner,” the teacher was found advising Ismail. In the video, a police officer can also be seen advising Ismail to put an end to his dubious acts.

"Ismail is a serial offender. He has confessed to being involved in several robberies in Anakkara and Kannanoor. Upon questioning, he revealed that he had engaged in chain snatching and other thefts as well," Thrithala SI MK Shaji said.