Solving Crime | Fingerprints, a foundry and a temple for his father: how Bengaluru cops nabbed thief who ‘ghosted’ them for years

While house thefts are hardly uncommon in Bengaluru — with even entire gangs engaged in it — this set of cases involved a ‘lone wolf’ who successfully carried out the thefts in 10-15 minutes in nearly every case.

Fingerprints galore but no ID

Besides the ignominy of having to stare at a string of unsolved burglaries, the Bengaluru City police, especially its West wing, were taunted by the same set of fingerprints they ended up collecting from the crime scenes.

S K Umesh, who was then the assistant commissioner of police (ACP) in Vijayanagar, recalled, “Crime scene fingerprints are usually stored in a database and matched with existing records. This man’s fingerprints ‘haunted’ many officers but it neither matched any in our database nor gave any other lead.”

All the burglaries appeared to have been committed in empty houses during the day and the locks were broken using just one tool.

The first clue: CCTV footage

On June 16, 2016, a family in Bengaluru’s Vinayakanagar left for Tumakuru at 9.30 am and returned by 3 pm to find that their house was ransacked. “To our surprise, the crime scene had the same fingerprints we were searching for. Fortunately, a CCTV camera nearby captured a man entering the house. He was in his late 30s or early 40s, had a bag and was holding magazine,” a police officer said.

Umesh, who later retired from the force as superintendent of police, said, “I collected the suspect’s visuals and photos and shared it among police officers and informants. It was a rare case because the man had eluded the police for six years even though we had his prints. It became a routine for me to remind all officers in the sub-division about the suspect over WhatsApp groups.”

However, there was no lead whatsoever for the next three months. “One day, Sadiq Pasha, a patrolling police constable, noticed a man who looked similar to the suspect. He immediately alerted us. As he was in uniform, I asked the constable to just note the number of this man’s two-wheeler and keep an eye on his movements,” Umesh recounted.

After converting the stolen gold into bars, Shankar would travel to his village in his Honda City car along with associates.(Express Photo)

Even as a police team was being dispatched, the suspect appeared to abort plans to enter a house there because a neighbour stepped out. The suspect then took his two-wheeler and left. Sadiq followed him for nearly 3 km and saw that he entered another empty house behind Vijayanagar Traffic and Transit Management Centre. By then, the police team arrived and caught him red-handed.

The investigation

Probe revealed the man was Talapad Navaganbhai alias Shankar, a native of Ode village in Gujarat’s Anand district. He had been living in Hosakerehalli since 2007 with his second wife Shobha Ben. He remained tight-lipped during questioning and the language barrier also proved to be a challenge, said a police officer.

On finding his residential address in Bengaluru, the police went there and were surprised to see that he had turned it into a foundry to melt and recast gold. “He melted the gold he had stolen and converted it into gold bars before transporting them to his hometown. It looked like he was doing it for years,” a police officer added.

While investigators quickly connected him to various theft cases across Bengaluru, recovering the valuables appeared to be challenging. A team of police officers were sent to Gujarat for the purpose but another surprise awaited them there.

Filmy twist after twist

“We had taken Shankar with us, but to our astonishment, everyone in the village greeted him respectfully. He had a three-storeyed building there and had constructed a temple near one of his posh bungalows,” said a police officer.

Ironically enough, the bungalows were surrounded by 360-degree CCTV cameras equipped with night vision. If the ‘twists’ weren’t filmy enough already, the officers were simply left bewildered when they realised that the deity in the temple was none other than Shankar’s father Talapad Punjha Bhai who was also a ‘renowned’ thief in the region.

“He had placed a 400 kg silver idol of his father and a smaller one of his grandfather. The temple had an annual fair and food distribution on festival days,” Umesh said.

After converting the stolen gold into bars, Shankar would travel to his village in his Honda City car along with associates. He often returned in a flight. Highly focused in his chosen path, Shankar separated from his first wife as he could not devote enough time to the relationship. Later, he married Shobha Ben and moved to Bengaluru but he used to travel across the country to steal valuables.

The Bengaluru City police brought the valuables, including the silver idols, to Bengaluru and the investigation that followed solved at least 15 theft cases. In 2019, Shankar was released on bail and went to his village.

A police officer said, “Shankar is a known criminal in Gujarat with multiple cases, including robbery, against him. He shifted base to South India when it became tough for him to stay there. After moving to Bengaluru, he committed thefts in Hyderabad, Chennai, Pune, Mumbai and other cities in south India.”

Present status

It is believed that Shankar has more than 100 cases against him across the country. An officer said that in some cases in Bengaluru the trial is pending and in others he was acquitted.

In January 2021, Shankar was arrested again in connection with a robbery in Nadiad town in Gujarat’s Kheda district. A Class 12 pass, he is well-versed with the law and even helps his legal counsel in defending some of his cases, said a police officer who was part of the team that arrested him.