'Sir, forgive us': When thieves return medals of award-winning Tamil film director M Manikandan

In an incident that seemed straight out of a movie script, thieves who stole cash and gold ornaments from nationally acclaimed Tamil film director broke into his house again to return his medals, along with an apology letter.

The incident occurred earlier this Monday. According to reports, burglars entered the home of film director M. Manikandan in Usilampatti, Madurai district. They absconded with Rs 1 lakh in cash, five sovereigns of gold ornaments, and also snatched his two national award medals.

However, they returned to give back two shiny national award medals to Manikandan with a letter in Tamil that read: "Sir, forgive (us), your hard work is yours."


Nevertheless, the burglars did not return the stolen sum of Rs one lakh and five sovereigns of gold, which were taken from Manikandan's home on February 8.

The incident unfolded while Manikandan and his family were away in Chennai.

The Usilampatti police have filed a case and launched a search operation to apprehend the unidentified perpetrators. However, due to the secluded location of the house, the police have been unable to obtain any CCTV footage. A senior police officer informed The Times of India, "Considering the method of operation, we suspect the burglar to be a local resident and a habitual offender."

M. Manikandan rose to prominence for his celebrated films 'Kaaka Muttai' (The Crow's Egg), which secured the Best Children's Film award at the 62nd National Film Awards, and 'Kadaisi Vivasayi' (The Last Farmer), honored with the Best Feature Film award at the 69th National Film Awards.