Bengaluru: A carpenter-turned-burglar who had kept away from crime for some years was arrested after fingerprints found at a house revealed he was back in business.
Police recovered 220 grams of gold ornaments and 1kg of silver articles worth Rs 18 lakh from Naseer Khan alias Munna, 38. His associate, DK Santosh, 37, who helped him dispose of stolen gold, is also in custody.
According to police, techie Yatharth Sharma’s house in Rachenahalli was burgled between Feb 4 and 11 when he and his family had gone to his hometown in Raipur, Chhattisgarh. The burglar made away with gold ornaments and silver articles worth Rs 4.6 lakh.
Police commissioner B Dayananda said cops and the fingerprint bureau team got clues about Khan with the help of a fingerprint found in Sharma’s house.
A team, headed by inspector M Ambarish, zeroed in on Khan on Feb 22, and during interrogation, he confessed about Santosh, who was subsequently arrested. Cops verified CCTV footage and found the duo entered Sharma’s house by opening the sliding window glass door.
Khan, a carpenter, committed burglaries in Sampigehalli, Amruthahally, High Grounds, Commercial Street, Chandra Layout, HSR Layout, Basavanagudi and other areas in the past, and was arrested in 10 cases. After coming out on bail, he stopped committing crimes for a few years, but resumed in 2024. Khan told police he was short of money to lead a lavish life and hence committed burglaries. Santosh would receive stolen ornaments from him and pledge them with jewellers and finance firms in Bengaluru and Hassan district.
Stolen gold chain found
Among the recovered gold was a 20-gram gold chain. Khan admitted to have stolen it from a house in Amruthanagar near Sahakarnagar. Police tracked the house and knocked on its door on March 1. AR Rama, resident of the house and private company employee, was surprised when cops asked if any gold had been stolen from her house.
Rama said she had kept her 20-gram gold chain on the table in the hall and went to take a bath around 6am on Feb 12. When she returned to take the chain, it was missing. She had left the front door unlocked, and her husband was sleeping in the bedroom.
The couple searched for the chain in the house but didn’t find it. Rama said she didn’t file a complaint as she couldn’t visit the police station then. She has now been asked to visit the station to identify her chain and lodge a complaint.