Bengaluru: The city police arrested two men who under the pretext of selling balloons, burgled eight houses, including that of IPS officer Subodh Yadav and State Election Commissioner P.N. Srinivasachari, in the last one year.
The Sanjay Nagar police analyzed the CCTV footage and zeroed in on the balloon sellers who had gone missing. The police kept a watch and nabbed them as soon as they returned to the city a few days ago for another heist.
The arrested, Jagadish and Rajendra, hail from Rajasthan. Police have also recovered 600 grams of gold and 2 kg silver and other items worth Rs 19 lakh.
According to the police, their modus operandi was as follows: while selling balloons on road, they would look for locked houses. During night they use to break open the doors and loot valuables.
The accused were staying with their family in a temporary shed near Yeshwanthpur Railway station. Their wives and children use to beg at the railway station and accused were selling balloons at ISKCON temple and later go in search of locked houses.
After looting the houses they used to travel to Ajmer to sell gold and silver ornaments and then return to city.
Investigations revealed that the duo had burgled the house of Subhod Yadav on July 16, 2017 in Sanjaynagar, when he had gone to Chennai with his family.
The accused had stolen 240 grams gold and 1 kg silver and other valuables. The incident came to light when the officer and his family returned the next day.
The finger prints of the accused match with those found at the crime scene, the officer said.
Later on December 22, 2017 they burgled the house of Srinivasachari, when he and his family had gone to Mysuru. The incident came to light when they returned on December 26.
The accused covered the CCTV cameras using cloth to avoid getting photographed.
The accused were arrested by police where they were roaming suspiciously near Bhoopasandra. After taking them into custody the accused had confessed to the crime.
They confessed that they had burgled four houses in Sanjaynagar, three in Annapoorneshwari Nagar and one in Jnanabharathi, police added.
