Chennai: Meet Dharmichand Gumanaram, a 37-yr-old pawnbroker, who had employed a burglar for executing house breaks in Chennai. Though the unholy nexus between burglars and pawnbrokers is not new, this is the first time in the recent history police is arresting a pawnbroker for ‘employing’ a burglar.
He had rented a house for his employee ‘Kulla Kumar’, 40 and functioned as the handler of the burglar by giving him guidance on where to strike. ‘Kulla’ Kumar would hand over the loot to the pawnbroker, who in turn sold the same. A portion of the money generated is given to Kumar, police said on Friday, after arresting Dharmichand.
The two, together had executed at least 12 burglaries in southern suburb Madipakkam and surrounding neighbourhood. The police had recovered 68 sovereigns of gold, worth more than '12 lakh, 1.5 kg silver and two television sets from the duo.
Cops said they nabbed ‘Kulla’ Kumar, a native of Villupuram on Thursday during regular patrolling and when questioned, he disclosed that he was arrested in a cheating case in the year 2013. He also told the police about his ‘employer’ Dharmichand. Following that, the police picked up the pawnbroker, who confessed.
“In jail the burglar had met Dharmichand, who was also arrested for another cheating case by Chennai city central crime branch. When ‘Kulla’ Kumar came out of jail, Dharmichand picked him up, arranged a rented house at Veeramani Nagar, Nanmangalam in Madipakkam for him stay. Dharmichand gave advance for the rented premises and had been giving monthly rent for the house,” the police said.
Dharmichand, on one hand, planned and executed burglary in locked houses with the help of ‘Kulla’ Kumar and on the other hand ran a pawnbroker shop called ‘Sri Mathaji Pawnbroker shop’ on S Kolathur Main Road in Kovilambakkam. Cops believe that the two had executed burglaries in Pallikaranai, Adambakkam, Chitlapakkam and Madipakkam.
