BENGALURU: The city police have arrested a 37-year-old interstate thief, for a burglary at a house in Maruthinagar under Madiwala police station limits on January 9.
Panchakshari Sangayya Swami, a state-level kickboxer and black belt in karate, has a history of over 150 cases of theft and robbery across four states, including Telangana, Maharashtra, Gujarat, and Karnataka.
According to the police, Swami had gifted a Rs 3 crore palatial building to his bar dancer girlfriend and a Rs 22 lakh aquarium to a Bollywood actress. He was arrested on January 20 near the Madiwala market area based on CCTV footage and technical evidence. The stolen gold ornaments had been melted and converted into gold biscuits. Following his arrest, the police recovered a fire gun used for melting the gold, 181 grams of gold biscuits, and 333 grams of silver ornaments, all valued at approximately Rs 12.25 lakh.
City Police Commissioner B. Dayananda said that Swami had broken into a locked house in Madiwala and stolen 410 grams of gold and silver ornaments. “He had been released from a Maharashtra jail in October last year and soon after committed the theft in Madiwala,” he added.
During interrogation, officers were shocked by his extensive criminal history. Swami's first crime was stealing a laptop in 2003 when he was just 15. By 2009, he had turned into a professional thief. In 2012, he was arrested by the Navi Mumbai crime branch, and in 2016, he was sentenced to six years in prison in Gujarat for a robbery case. He served his sentence at Sabarmati Central Prison. Due to his notoriety in Gujarat, Maharashtra, and Telangana, he later shifted his base to Bengaluru.
Police revealed that Swami, at the age of 24, had come into contact with a Bollywood actress and would take her to seven-star hotels, spending nearly Rs 15 lakh on her per visit. He had gifted her the expensive aquarium on her birthday.
Further investigations are underway.