Hyderabad: A habitual offender involved in over 300 offences for the last 30 years has been arrested by the Maheshwaram police of Rachakonda commissionerate along with his younger brother. The police recovered property worth about Rs 26 lakh from the duo.
The accused, Sarangi alias Saranga Venkatesh, 54, garlic and ginger seller, and his younger brother Saranga Sanjeevulu, 40, an auto driver, are residents of LB Nagar and natives of Moosapet village in Mahabubnagar district. They have been stealing valuables from temples located on the outskirts of villages.
Since 2017, they have committed 13 thefts at temples located in Maheshwaram, Hayathnagar, Chityala, Ghatkesar, Bibinagar, Mothkur, Medipally and Pochampally.
Rachakonda police commissioner Mahesh Bhagwat said, “Sarangi has been committing thefts for 30 years.
He was earlier involved in stealing copper wires from the electricity transformers at Ranga Reddy, Nalgonda, Nizamabad, Medak, Mahbubnagar, Rachakonda and Cyberabad. He confessed to committing over 300 offences in the last 30 years.
From 2013, Sarangi committed 78 thefts. Initially, he used to steal copper wires, but recently he started stealing valuables from temples to make more money.”
Sarangi’s brother, Sanjeevulu, was involved in 12 cases of temple thefts and also copper wire stealing.
In August 2017, Sarangi was released from jail and returned to stealing, said the commissioner.
Mr Bhagwat said that on September 11, the duo conducted recce at Venkateshwara Swamy temple in Maheshwaram to ensure no electronic surveillance was present. On the intervening night of September 15 and 16, they broke into the temple and stole valuables.
They took the articles home and cut the idols to sell them in pieces.
