High-end car theft, Hebbal cash robbery, vehicle lifting and chain-snatching cases solved

Mysore/Mysuru: In a major recovery, City Police have seized stolen properties worth   Rs. 1.34  crore (Rs. 1,34,17,503)  by cracking several cases, including the robbery that took place on July 26, 2023, near a bank in Hebbal Industrial Area and high-end car theft racket that had sent the men in khaki into a tizzy in the recent days.

City Police Commissioner B. Ramesh gave this information to media persons at his Office in Nazarbad this morning.

Elaborating on the cases, the City Police Chief said, “A 35-year-old habitual vehicle-lifter hailing from Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh has been arrested in high-end car theft case reported on 5th Main Road, V.V. Mohalla in V.V. Puram Police limits on July 25. Following his arrest, two more cars lifted in a similar fashion were recovered, with the booty including three cars, three wrist watches and 750 grams of gold valued at Rs. 1,19,61,706.”

A team of V.V. Puram Police led by Inspector M. Mohan Kumar, succeeded in tracing the accused after tracking his movements on the GPS enabled car he had lifted.

The accused though SSLC pass was tech savvy and used it to his advantage. He came to Mysuru and then targetted houses in areas he found to be affluent. It is also his first in Karnataka, as his criminal activities were mostly restricted to his native Andhra Pradesh and Telangana where he has 36 cases registered in Tirupati Police limits,  20 in Telangana and three cases in Tamil Nadu. He was selling the cars for a pittance as he wanted the transaction to be quick and move on, the Police Commissioner added.

Released on bail

The Commissioner informed that before committing the thefts in Mysuru, the accused had been released on bail after he was arrested in a similar case in Chittoor, AP.

While looking for posh localities in Mysuru, he learnt about VV Mohalla and Yadavgiri and surroundings. He first struck at a house in VV Mohalla, where he stole wrist watches and gold valuables.

His modus operandi was to remove the latch of the rear side door of the house after breaking the window glasses and even used a stick with hook to lift the door keys.

With his arrest, two car theft cases registered in Vijayanagar Police Station, one in VV Puram Police Station and two house burglary along with theft cases have been solved.

The police have recovered three branded watches, expensive head phone and bluetooth phone speaker. They have also found 50 grams of gold jewellery.

Cash grab case

A gang of five involved in the grab and dash of a cash bag containing Rs. 6.05  lakh (Rs. 6,05,797) from Tulsidas, an employee of Darasaguppe SSC Private Limited Company, in front of State Bank of India (SBI) in Hebbal Industrial Area has also been arrested. A total of Rs. 4.35 lakh cash and a motorcycle and scooter used to commit the crime have been seized from the accused.

Police Commissioner Ramesh said “One among the accused had previously worked as a security guard at Darasaguppe SSC Pvt. Ltd. and knew about the arrangements related to movement of cash.

He then roped in four more security guards who were deputed at various apartments in the city and together they hatched a plan to steal the cash.”

Another vehicle lifter held

The third case is related to lifting of a goods vehicle, one hammering machine, one welding machine and  a laptop totalling worth Rs. 10 lakh registered at  Vijayanagar Police Station. One person has been arrested in the case and the articles have been recovered intact.

The Special Team of Vijayanagar Police took the accused into custody along with the vehicle near a cement factory at Betageri on Siddapura Road in Kushalnagar in Kodagu district.

Cheating cases have been registered against him at Panambur and Pandeshwara Police Stations and two in Konanur Police Station in Hassan district, which are under trial.

Chain snatcher held

In another case related to chain snatching reported at Narasimharaja Police Station limit on Mar. 29, Police have arrested a person working as mason and have recovered 9.5 grams of gold chain and two other gold articles worth Rs. 50,000 from him.

DCP (Law and Order) M. Mutturaj, DCP (Crime and Traffic) S. Jahnavi. ACP of NR Sub-division Ashwath Narayan and others were present.