BENGALURU: This ‘Spiderman’ had everything planned before hand. He would survey the area, scale walls and jump from one building to another after committing thefts so that stray dogs and night beat policemen would not be alerted to the sounds of a stranger. But his fingerprints led the police to him.
Naveen Kumar Gowda (29), a native of Hassan, was arrested on Saturday for killing a retired employee in a serial theft bid that was reported in Yelahanka New Town in the wee hours on Thursday. Kumar was involved in 21 burglary cases in Bengaluru and neighbouring cities.
He told his interrogators he would come to Bengaluru around 11pm, finish his ‘job’ by 4am and head back to Hassan. On Wednesday, he had struck at Yelahanka as he desperately needed `12,000 to clear his bar bills and also pay the school fees of his children.
Naveen Kumar, a native of Doddagenigere village in Hassan, was released from Mysore jail on November 2016 after serving a three-year jail term. He had passed SSLC and PUC with distinction before he took to crime.
On Thursday, the thief struck at three houses in Yelahanka New Town and attacked two children before he barged into the house of 67-year-old Ananth Ramaiah and bludgeoned him with a stone. Twelve-year-old Mohammed Anas was hit and his 15-year-old sister Safia Taj was dragged before the boy raised an alarm.
A senior police officer said during interrogation, Naveen said he had to pay his bar bill and school fees for his two children. As Ramaiah resisted, he attacked the senior citizen with a stone.
Fingerprints gave him away
The officer said, “We analysed data of habitual offenders and fingerprint experts gave us a hint about the suspect. We also gathered information about those who had been released from jail recently and came to know that Kumar used to visit his sister in-law’s house in Yelahanka. We nabbed Naveen from Hassan with the help of his elder brother Jagadish, who works as a mason. After killing Ramaiah, he boarded a bus to Hassan.”
Police recovered CCTV footage from the school which he visited twice to enquire about the fees. The footage shows Naveen carrying school bags of his children.
Married to two women
Naveen fell in love with a woman and married out of caste, but his parents were opposed to it. A few years ago, he moved out his family from his parental home and stayed in Jigani for a few months. Later, they moved back to his hometown where Naveen has another wife.