Deep dive into bizarre case of thief who committed suicide

“The burglar would’ve resorted to fear when he heard the couple yell warnings and suffered a panic attack which resulted in suicide”

Vasudha Zora | NT

Bengaluru: While it is widely believed that criminals are not afraid of the law enforcement authorities, here is an incident that may indicate that even the criminals do fear getting caught. Being alerted of a suspected house breakin theft (HBT) case by a resident of Indiranagar 5th Main, the city police rushed to the spot but were perplexed to find a body hanging inside one of the rooms in the house.

When News Trail spoke to the forensic experts, they said that criminals are not monoliths. "People resort to crime for different reasons," one said. One of the experts with expertise in burglary-related theft added, “It is very common that offenders repeat the crime even after being convicted for them.

Most of them are so fueled to commit these crimes due to their dire circumstances that they share very little care for their mental and physical well-being, many of them have severe mental and physical problems that end up in suspicious suicides in the process of commission of the crime as their body and mind do not align, making them less confident and letting fear govern them from there on.” 

The police identified the deceased person to be Dileep Kumar, a native of Assam. The person had earlier been arrested in a house theft incident near Jeevan Bhima Nagar 16 years ago, they said. The residents of the house had returned from their trip to Amsterdam and found the main doors of their house locked from inside.

They also noticed the lights were on following which they alerted the police about it. After inspecting the spot, the cops speculated that Kumar might have entered the house to steal some valuables.

However, as he failed to find anything to eat, he took a bath and stayed inside the house for a night and was found hanging the next day,” an officer who probed the case, said. “The mystery is what made him stay in the house when he could have escaped from the house on the same day. Besides, we found him hanging inside the puja room,” he added.

Later when the cops reportedly inquired with Kumar’s family, they found that he had mental issues. “The person must have committed suicide out of fear of getting caught,” the officer said. Speaking about the incident, Bheemashankar S Guled, Deputy Commissioner of Police (east), said that it was an unusual place for suicide.

He said that the burglar would’ve resorted to fear when he heard the couple yell warnings and suffered a panic attack which resulted in a suicide. The senior official also shed light on the fact that the death and the arrival of the owners were within the same timeline, although the cops are heavily confused about the nature of this bizarre case.