• Police recover three SUVs; accused also burgled gold from houses
• Value of stolen properties Rs. 1 crore; GPS technology helps arrest

Mysore/Mysuru: The V.V. Puram Police successfully cracked three high-end car theft cases and have arrested a notorious thief, a lone operator, from Bengaluru. All the cars have been recovered from the parties to whom he had sold and are at present in the V.V. Puram Police Station.

Apart from being a professional car thief, the accused also used to burgle houses and the total value of the stolen assets that have been seized by the Police include vehicles, gold and watches amounting to Rs. 1 crore. The identity of the thief has been protected by the Police and the arrest was made yesterday, July 29, Police   sources told Star of Mysore.

The car theft cases were registered in V.V. Puram and Vijayanagar Police Stations and special teams had been formed and the V.V. Puram team was successful inarresting the culprit, said Police sources.

On July 25, this man had stolen a Mahindra XUV700 (KA-09-MJ-2677) which was parked in front of a house on the 5th Main Road in Yadavagiri. The SUV belonged to B. Satish Rao, an Accountant. Satish Rao had parked his vehicle in front of his house and theft came to light the next day morning when Satish Rao found the SUV missing.

The case was registered at V.V. Puram Police Station while tracking the case, the Police teams were informed by Satish Rao that his SUV was GPS-enabled and its movements can be tracked. Giving the responsibility of tracking the GPS to the IT wing, a Police team began chasing the vehicle based on the location inputs.

Following the accused, the Police realised that the criminal was not aware of the GPS system. However, the Police kept a low profile so that not to arouse suspicion. Based on the IT wing’s inputs, the Police team zeroed in on the vehicle at a location in Bengaluru and pounced on the thief.

Kote M. Shivanna’s vehicle

Initial investigation has revealed that the thief used to operate alone and he has stolen two more cars. He had stolen a Multi-Utility Vehicle (MUV) belonging to former Minister Kote M. Shivanna parked near his house on 80 feet road in Vijayanagar Third Stage and a Fortunercar owned by a hotelier.

The Toyota InnovaCrysta (KA-09-ME-6996) vehicle of Shivanna was stolen at 1 am on June 5 and the CCTV footage captured his visuals. The thief gained entry to the house through the back door and took the car key from the hall.

Before driving away with the car, he put the idol of Ganapathi and some documents kept in the vehicle in a cover and left it behind at the place where the vehicle was parked.

Shivanna’s driver had handed over the key to Shivanna at around 8 pm on that day after parking the vehicle. It was only after seeing the footage of the CCTV camera, it came to light that the thief had jumped over the compound wall of the house before committing the theft.

Hotel owner’s SUV

A month before Shivanna’s car was stolen, the same thief had taken away the Toyota Fortuner car owned by K.R. Santhosh, the proprietor of Silver Oak Hotel in Vijayanagar Third Stage.

Santhosh had parked his SUV (KA-09-MD-9977) in front of his house on May 12 night, a day before the counting for the Karnataka Assembly elections. The car was at the usual parking spot till 12 am and Santhosh had seen it. But it was missing the next morning. Vijayanagar Police had registered a case.

Speaking to SOM this morning, Santhosh said that he had bought the car in 2018 and his house was just 100 metresfrom Shivanna’s house. “I am happy to know that my SUV has been recovered and I visited the V.V. Puram Police to see my vehicle as I was informed by the Police,” he said.

GPS technology came in handy

The thief quickly sold the stolen cars to his prospective buyers and he had a wide network of clients in Gujarat, Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata. In these three cases, two cars were recovered from the buyers outside Karnataka. In fact, the Police teams were behind the culprit for over two months but the criminal managed to give a slip to the Police. However, the GPS-enabled vehicle helped the Police to make the arrest.

Police sources said that after committing a crime, the accused used to vanish, leaving no trace. His modus operandi will even put a techie to shame. He is very proficient and adept in stealing, the Police added.

The investigation teams were headed by Vijayanagar Police Inspector Ravishankar, V.V. Puram inspector Mohan under the guidance of Narasimharaja Sub-division ACP C.K. Ashwathnarayan and Vijayanagar Sub-division ACP Gajendra Prasad.

Vehicle brought back from Gujarat

In another case, a Toyota Innova vehicle that was stolen in the city on the night of May 12 was brought back from Gujarat and has been handed over to the owners.

The vehicle (KA-09-MC-5199) belongs to Nikhil Manjunath, son of retired Nirmithi Kendra Director Manjunath, a resident of Nivedithanagar. The vehicle was parked in front of the house on May 12 night and was missing the next day morning.

The team led by Saraswathipuram Police Inspector C.M. Ravindra traced the vehicle in Gujarat. The vehicle was hidden inside a godown in a deserted place. The Saraswathipuram Police went to Vapi Police Station near Surat in Gujarat and recovered the vehicle.