The Mahadevapura police have arrested a 23-year-old electrical engineer and his associate, who had been on a mobile snatching spree in the city and recovered 68 mobile phones, which they had robbed from people in and around Whitefield area over the last one year.
The accused Girish, a native of Hiriyur, is an electrical engineering graduate who worked in a private firm for a meagre salary until recently. However, he quit his job and joined his friend Ranganath, 33, also from Hiriyur to snatch mobile phones to make quick money. Ranganath earlier worked as a delivery executive in the city, but quit his job and was leading a life of crime. He is a habitual offender and has multiple cases pending against him.
The Mahadevapura police probing a mobile snatching case tracked down Ranganath to Hiriyur and through him arrested Girish as well. In a case, the victim was walking home while talking to his fiancee on a video call which was being recorded. As the accused came on a bike from behind and snatched the mobile phone and sped away, his face was partially recorded in the video. Further, the police got lucky when they found that the tower location of the stolen mobile phone was in Hiriyur, Chitradurga. The police verified the habitual offenders in Hiriyur to match their photo with the partial face caught in the recorded video call and arrested Ranganath. His interrogation led the police to Giri and 68 mobile phones worth ₹20 lakh were recovered from them. With their arrest, the police have solved nine mobile theft cases reported in and around Whitefield area, the police said. The accused used to sell the mobile phones and used the money for their vices.
Special operation
In another case, the Ramamurthy Nagar police during a special operation on Monday arrested a 27-year-old man red-handed while stealing a mobile phone from a woman while she was boarding a crowded bus in a hurry near Tin factory. Following a series of mobile theft cases, a team of policemen in mufti were deployed at the bus stop as decoys which helped them zero in on Vignesh from Avalahalli.
A native of Chittoor, Vignesh was addicted to online gambling and quit the job of a courier boy and took to stealing mobile phones. However, he did not steal just mobile phones. Though he is a pre-university drop out, Vignesh is tech savvy. He used to remove the SIM card from the stolen mobile, insert it into another phone and change passwords, following which he would transfer money to his friend’s accounts through UPI apps on the phone and then flash the mobile handset and sell it in the grey market. Police investigations have revealed that he stole 38 mobile phones worth ₹8 lakh and diverted ₹5 lakh from their UPI accounts in the last one year.
