The Police said that a thief (26), who masqueraded as a contractor & paid income taxes regularly to hoodwink the law enforcement authorities, has been arrested in Bhopal & some of the stolen cash & jewellery have been recovered from him.
A Police official, who interrogated the thief after he was arrested on Tuesday said, “I’ve never encountered such a smart thief who always managed to evade arrest, despite being detained & interrogated several times in the past 10 years. This was the first time, when the police could arrest him with concrete evidence such as stolen cash & jewellery".
The thief, Sonu Vishwamarka, alias Golu, a resident of Madhya Pradesh’s Sagar district, owns a flat in Indore’s Lasudia locality, where his family lives, & he was planning to build a house in Bhopal, when he was arrested on Tuesday, the police said.
Sai Krishna Thota, Superintendent of Police (SP), Bhopal said, “He has confessed to having committed 18 thefts & robberies, including seven four & six in Sagar, Indore, & Bhopal, respectively. We’re trying to ascertain whether he committed more crimes. He owns a flat in Indore, a car, motorbikes, two TV sets with giant screens, a piece of fitness equipment, a music system, jewellery, etc., whose cumulative worth is over Rs40 lakh. He had a set of tools to break open locks. He has a permanent account number (PAN) card & invested in several life insurance policies. He has multiple bank accounts & has also invested in a few fixed deposit schemes. In January, he had a balance of Rs 5 lakh in one of his bank accounts".
“He’s a rare thief, who never spends all his stolen money. He would sell the stolen ornaments & used the cash for his personal & family expenses,” he added.
According to the Police, Golu was arrested by Ashoka Garden police station authorities after he burgled an industrialist’s house at Bijli Nagar in Govindpura area of Bhopal on June 5. He stole cash & jewellery worth Rs10 lakh from the industrialist’s house.
The Police official said that “We examined footages of 150 close circuit TV (CCTV) cameras & tracked him to Shanti Homes Colony, where he lived in a rented flat. His residence is located about 10 kilometres away from the locality, where he had committed the theft. We recovered over Rs4.30 lakh in cash, which was hidden in an air cooler, & jewellery from his possession".
Golu’s modus operandi was not to live in any locality for more than five to six months. He had a target of four to five major thefts every year. He always carried a loaded pistol with him & was a solo operator, the police said.
The Superintendent of Police recounted the thief’s quick thinking on his feet.
“His car was seized in Indore in May last year after a huge amount of liquor found in it. However, he managed to give the police a slip by biting one of the policeman’s hands. However, he lodged an FIR (First Information Report) at another police station in Indore the following day, complaining that his car had been stolen in a bid to ensure that he got the insurance money,” the SP said.
He said that the accused bought his car in instalments to ensure that he always beyond doubt about his ill-gotten wealth.
Golu, a school drop-out, started committing crimes in about 2010. He told the police during interrogation that his parents were no more, he has no next of kin & his father left a lot of money for him when he died.
The SP added that “He’s a serial thief, who’s suave & smart. He cooks up a fictitious tale on all occasions, whether it’s about his bike or house. We need to cross-check each & every information he has provided us".
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