Burglars who stole Rs 2 crore from Bengaluru house held; police checking cash source


The police have written to the income tax and other authorities to get clarity on whether it was unaccounted cash.
Sunil Kumar (35), of Subramanyapura in Bengaluru, and Dileep (23), of Bengaluru rural district, allegedly stole the money from the house of a retired government servant’s son in Kumaraswamy Layout on March 28.

According to the police, Manmohan Lal, who had been staying at the house in his son’s absence, was away for a day. When he came back around 11am on March 29, he found the house had been ransacked and valuables missing. But his police complaint mentioned just valuables and not the amount of money stolen, they added.

The police said they had checked footage from nearby CCTV cameras and identified the burglars. Fingerprints collected from the house matched with those of the accused duo, they added.

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Dileep was previously arrested in a drugs case and Sunil for a burglary. The police said they had become friends while in jail. “Sunil, working as an autorickshaw driver, had ferried Manmohan Lal one day and seen him handing over a huge sum of money to a person. Since then, Sunil and Dileep had followed Lal and later found his son’s house, where no one was staying,” said a police officer.

At March 28 midnight the duo broke open the door of the house and made away with the Rs 2 crore kept in two bags and other valuables.

The police found out that the accused had spent about Rs 25 lakh to clear their debts and pay lawyers’ fees. While the rest of the money was kept in Sunil’s house, Dileep had left for MM Hills. The police nabbed both and recovered Rs 1.76 crore and gold ornaments worth Rs 12 lakh.

After coming back from Chennai, Lal’s son, who works with a private firm, told the police the money was the price of a property they had sold. However, the police have not bought the claim. Deputy commissioner of police (south) Harish Pandey told The Indian Express, “We are writing letters to the Income Tax Department, Enforcement Directorate and Anti-Corruption Bureau to check whether the money was unaccounted or accounted for.”