Pastor hits perdition road on stolen bikes

Madurai: He was a man of God who had heard many a confession, but for pastor Vijayan Samuel, his judgment day came on Saturday when he had to confess to his crimes and police recovered a dozen stolen two-wheelers from him.
The 36-year-old pastor, originally from Theni, was running a prayer hall at a rented place at Thanakkankulam for the past two years. According to police, contributions to Samuel's prayer hall dried up due to the coronavirus lockdown.
Though he had stopped congregation services, he had to pay rent for the building which was around Rs 10,000 a month. The pastor found his calling in bikes parked on roadsides with keys intact and started stealing them. He would watch out for vehicles left behind by owners in commercial areas in the city.
Using a copy of the vehicle records, he would pledge them for money. He gave three such stolen vehicles to his family members in Cumbum and a couple of them to people who took part in his prayer services, say police.
Samuel ran out of luck when he took one such stolen vehicle to a mechanic recently for repair. The mechanic, who found the two-wheeler to be similar to one lost by his customer recently, informed him about it. The customer soon arrived and confirmed that it was his stolen vehicle. They both alerted the Subramanipuram police who promptly picked up Vijayan when he returned to take possession of the vehicle on Saturday.

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