Thief’s free run ends after 13 years

NT Correspondent

A mechanic who has been commit thefts at locked houses for the past 13 years, without getting caught even once, finally ran out of luck.

The accused, identified as Murali, a resident of Kavalbyrasandra, used to rob one or two houses per month, and was also employed in a garage as a mechanic.

He had a knack of scanning the door keys from a distance. His main targets were parents going to drop their children to school by locking their houses. From a distance he would also take pictures of the keys and then make then from a key making machine at his house. Using duplicate keys, he used to gain entry into houses and commit thefts. Along with Murali, his associate Shivaram, a resident of KG Halli, has also been arrested. The police have recovered gold and silver ornaments worth Rs 59 lakh from the duo. Murali had committed a theft in the RT Nagar area on December 7 and the police investigations led to his arrest.

“Murali was also taking pictures of the keys from his mobile phone from the parents of the school children. He would then observe the movement of the victims for some time and then commit theft in the absence. He also had a duplicate key making machine at his house and with the help of his associate the theft was being committed,” said a police officer.

Murali was using ‘project’ as the code word for each theft case. He was selling the stolen gold ornaments at known jewellery shops. He studied till 7th standard and was claiming to be a software engineer. The police found out that he had no Aadhar card fearing that he would be caught through the fingerprints which were taken while issuing the card.

With the arrest of the duo, nearly 14 cases have been solved.