Udupi cops nab notorious fugitive burglar

Udupi cops nab notorious fugitive burglar

Mangaloretoday News Network

Udupi, March 18: District Detective Squad led by Udupi Deputy SP Jayanth Shetty nabbed a notorious fugitive burglar from Kanhangad in Kerala who was involved in criminal activities since 8 years.

 

 

 

 

Speaking to media persons, In-Charge SP M V Venkateshappa informed that the burglar has been identified as Thangaraj alias Ramesh, aged 55, who originally belongs to Tamil Nadu. The detective squad recovered from him around 350 gram gold ornaments and gold ingots and around 8 kg of silver ingots, all worth Rs 11 lakh.

During the course of interrogation, Thangaraj confessed crimes committed by him since last eight years. Based on the information provided by the arrested, the police are on the lookout for another accomplice named Mani, also hailing from Tamil Nadu. By arresting Mani, the police are expected to recover ornaments worth Rs 10 lakh, he added.

Venkateshappa said Tangaraj has spilled the beans after thorough interrogation by the team during which he admitted that during the past eight years, he has been committing burglaries of locked houses in Udupi and Kundapura during night all alone and he used to dispose booty at different places. In the past four years, he was staying in a lodge in Udupi town under the guise of a labour contractor with Suzlon Company. A neatly dressed man, he never ever left an iota of doubt in the minds of his acquaintances and friends about his ‘night life,’ he said. Venkateshappa said that Tangaraj confessed that he is in this profession for more than a decade but the investigation team suspected that he has been in this field much longer. So for, he has committed burglaries in more than 50 houses in Udupi district. His modus operandi was that he chooses only locked houses.

He used to identify locked houses by noticing piling up of newspapers in the courtyard, locked main door and gate, lights in the portico and burgle such houses in the midnight.

He said that recently, a locked house was burgled at Bramhavara in which gold and silver articles were stolen. The fingerprints obtained from the spot of crime matched with the print of an offender who was arrested at Bhatkal in 2008. However, there he had furnished false address, he informed.

The team followed the movement of the suspect minutely and finally trapped him in the dragnet. The arrested has been produced before the court who has been remanded to police custody for 10 days. This is one of the biggest catch of a burglar in Udupi district in the recent past, he said and added that he has recommended to the IGP (Western Range) for a good cash prize for the team involved in culprit’s arrest, he said.