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Bengaluru: While residents slept through the night, a thief allegedly broke into a paying guest (PG) accommodation in Chikkabegur and fled with 12 mobile phones and seven laptops, leaving 11 inmates to discover the theft only the next morning. Lenin, 20, a student staying at Sri Venkateshwara Luxury Co-live PG, told police that he went to bed around 11 pm on Sept 22. When he woke up at around 5.30 am the next day, he found that his mobile phone was missing. The valuables belonged to 11 inmates.
A subsequent search of his room and neighbouring rooms revealed that several other devices belonging to his friends and fellow inmates were also missing. The inmates also reported that other valuables were missing. The intruder reportedly took advantage of several unlocked room doors in the multi-storey building before escaping with the valuables. The stolen items included a MacBook, laptops, smartphones and an iPhone. Soon after the theft came to light, they informed the PG management and checked the CCTV footage before approaching the police.
Local police later informed the Begur team that the stolen laptops and mobile phones could have been dismantled and sold as spare parts in the market, which has more than 1,000 shops, making recovery of the valuables difficult. A case has been registered under Section 305 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.
A police officer said the thief, dressed as a software engineer and carrying a bag, sneaked into the building during the night. Police said the camera was of poor quality and failed to capture the thief’s face clearly. A small gate is kept open at night to allow inmates returning from work to enter after their duty hours. The building has no security guard, while the person in charge was asleep in his room. The thief allegedly moved from room to room during the intervening hours and, fortunately for him, found that several doors had been left unlocked from inside. He put the laptops and mobile phones into his bag, made his way to the ground floor and escaped. After being alerted about the burglary, Begur police rushed to the spot and examined the CCTV footage. However, cameras installed in neighbouring buildings provided clues that he was heading towards Tamil Nadu. With the help of technical analysis, police tracked his movements. A police team was deployed to trace him. Initially, police suspected that he would head towards Hosur or Krishnagiri and followed that route. However, the thief, who was travelling by bus, continued to Chennai. The police team also reached Chennai and, with the assistance of local police, searched a market near Marina Beach. However, the thief managed to disappear into the crowded marketplace. Police have instructed the PG owner to install high-quality CCTV cameras and biometric access systems if employing a security guard is not financially feasible.
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