KOCHI: Devinder Singh alias ‘Bunty Chor’, a Bigg Boss participant and thief — ‘famous’ for committing over 500 robberies in north India — became a sensation in Kerala after he robbed the house of an NRI businessman in Thiruvananthapuram on January 21, 2013.
Bunty was a ‘celebrity thief’ after a Bollywood film based on his life, ‘Oye Lucky, Lucky Oye’, was made in 2008. His cameo as a contestant in Bigg Boss Season 4 in 2010 added to his nifty profile. But Bunty, who was having a free run all the while, clearly underestimated the Kerala Police, as he spent two weeks ‘chilling’ in the state. He, in fact, relished Kerala cuisine and also went on a shopping spree.
Officers recall that Bunty’s involvement in a car theft at one Parameswaran’s house in Ravipuram, Kochi, on January 16 gave a vital clue to the police to track his sojourn in Kerala. A police team led by the then south sub-inspector V Gopakumar confirmed Bunty’s role in the theft and found that he had checked into a hotel near the Ernakulam North railway station on January 2 and, later, stayed in four other hotels in the city.
“He had a good time in Kochi as he chalked out the master plan to rob the house of the NRI businessman in Thiruvananthapuram,” says an officer who was part of the probe team. “He was careless and left behind a lot of evidence that helped us nab him.”
The probe team collected copies of ID documents, such as driving licence, which Bunty had submitted at the hotels while checking in. Officers also gathered CCTV visuals that showed him busy shopping in the city. He had maintained a cool air and even went to a textile shop to buy jeans and T-shirts.
From Kochi, Bunty moved to Thiruvananthapuram. There he broke into the high-security house of businessman Venugopalan Nair on January 21. He deactivated surveillance devices and coolly drove off a sports utility vehicle (SUV) worth `28 lakh. He also picked up a laptop and two mobile phones from the house. Armed with sufficient info, a Kerala police team eventually nabbed Bunty in Pune.