Techie, fruit vendor go on key hunt, clean out locked homes in Bengaluru

Cops arrest accused, recover gold jewellery
Representative image
Representative image
Updated on
2 min read

BENGALURU: Slipping the house key under a pot, on in a shoe rack outside the front door, is leaving an open invitation to thieves. Cracking two separate cases, city police arrested two persons — a techie and a fruit vendor — for stealing valuables from locked houses. The modus operandi of the two thieves was similar: they did not enter the locked homes by force, but would search for the main door keys in shoe racks and flower pots.

The software engineer, K Murthy, a BCA degree holder and a resident of Bommanahalli, was working for an IT firm for two years. He then got addicted to online gambling and started losing all his earnings. He quit his job and started committing theft. Begur police, who arrested him, recovered Rs 18.53 lakh worth of stolen gold ornaments from him.

The accused is wanted in eight cases, of which six were reported in Begur police station limits and the remaining two in Surya City police limits. The accused would pledge the stolen ornaments with gold loan firms. Police recovered the ornaments from the firms where he had pledged them.

“The accused would dress well and go in search of locked houses. He would enter residential complexes on the pretext of searching for a house on rent. If he found a key inside a shoe rack or flower pot, he would enter and steal valuables, then lock the door and keep the keys in the same spot,” said an officer.

Mother of four wanted in 31 cases

The other case involves 33-year-old Jayanthi, a resident of Hennur and a habitual thief who was arrested by Hennur police. Nearly 110gm of gold ornaments worth around Rs 7.8 lakh were recovered from her. The woman is wanted in 31 house theft cases. Jayanthi, a mother of four children, was finding it difficult to look after them as she was not getting any support from her husband.

She was making a living selling fruits, but since the earnings were less, she became a full time thief. She would go around with the pushcart under the pretext of selling fruits, and if she saw any locked houses, she would check for any keys outside. She operated mainly in East division. Jayanthi would sell the stolen gold ornaments in jewellery shops. Investigations are on.

Related Stories

No stories found.

X
The New Indian Express
www.newindianexpress.com