Chennai: A 14-year-old juvenile offender who escaped from the clutches of the government home warden while being transferred to the city from Chengalpet landed in the police net on Monday night. The minor was caught red-handed by the Tiruvanmiyur police when he attempted to steal from a house at Bharathi Nagar, the police said. Subsequent investigations with the boy revealed that he was lodged at the government home for boys in Chengelpet. He was being shifted to the city when he escaped from his warden at the Tambaram railway station last Friday.

The boy gave the slip to his warden when he went to have tea, the police said. “The boy had asked the warden to buy him two cigarettes and when he refused, the boy fled the scene. Before the warden could react, the boy boarded a local train and escaped,” an investigating officer said. Subsequently, the warden alerted the local police. Two days later, the Tiruvanmiyur cops caught hold of the boy when he was attempting to steal from the house of Balamurugan in Bharathi Nagar.

The boy reportedly told the cops that he escaped from his warden to teach him a lesson as he failed to get him cigarettes. “The boy also was involved in minor thefts in Mahalingapuram and Kovalam in the meantime. We have sent him to the government home for boys,” a police officer said.