The arrested, Chander alias Antony alias Swamy, is a resident of Maruthiseva Nagar in Nagannapalya and hails from Kolar Gold Fields (KGF)
BENGALURU: The Vivek Nagar police have arrested a 50-year-old thief who broke into over 32 houses in the city and stole valuables and cash amounting to Rs 80 lakh.
The arrested, Chander alias Antony alias Swamy, is a resident of Maruthiseva Nagar in Nagannapalya and hails from Kolar Gold Fields (KGF). The police recovered gold ornaments weighing 2 kg 317 gm, silver articles of 3 kg 750 gm, Rs 5 lakh cash, two cars, one autorickshaw and two two-wheelers from him.
In a series of housebreak thefts in ST Bed area in Koramangala over the last two months, the police stumbled upon CCTV footage, where Chander was seen clearly. They had also gotten fingerprints from one of the houses where he committed the crime. The cops then matched them with the records that they had of Chander’s and picked him up. With his arrest, 32 cases of housebreak have been solved in Vivek Nagar, Koramangala, Ashok Nagar, Vyalikaval and Seshadripuram police jurisdictional limits.
Chander, who worked alone, had been breaking into houses since 1983 in KGF. He had settled down in Bengaluru after serving a prison term in KGF after he was convicted for housebreak thefts in 1985. He has two wives, who live in two separate areas in the city. He owns a four-storeyed house in Banaswadi and has a bank locker that he used to keep the jewellery he stole from houses, the police said.
Chander went around in his car to do a recce of locked houses during the day. In the night, he would return and break into the houses. He also broke into some of the house during the day, the police said.
He used to disguise himself either as a beggar or a rich man wearing suits to hoodwink the night beat police. “As of now, he has admitted to breaking into 32 houses in the city and has also shown us the houses. Only further interrogation will reveal if he had committed any more such thefts,” said Mr Sandeep Patil, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Central Division. “We will submit requisite documents of the four-storeyed property that he owns in Banaswadi to the court,” he said.
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