Pics: Pareekshith Shet
Daijiworld Media Network - Udupi (UM)
Updated
Udupi, Apr 25: Four thieves were caught in the act at Manipal here in the early hours of Monday April 25, thanks to the presence of mind shown by a citizen.
It is learnt that at around 2.30 am, an employee of KMC, Manipal, whose identity has not been disclosed so far, noticed four persons come by an Omni to Manipal bus stand.
Even as he watched, they began moving suspiciously in the area and soon, they tried to break open the locks of a shop.
Wasting no time, the KMC employee called up the estate manager of Manipal University Jai Vittal who in turn informed the police.
The police rushed to the spot and caught the four thieves red-handed.
The identities of the thieves are yet to be ascertained, but police sources said that they were of Chikkamagaluru origin.
It later came to light that the thieves had already committed thefts in various shops. It is gathered that the vehicle used by the thieves for the theft bore registration number of Bengaluru. Before reaching the last shop, the gang had burgled a ladies fashion store opposite Sudha Furniture on Manipal road. They then reached Impress textile store in Shirur building where they could lay hands on Rs 450. Their next target of Queen Daily Need Super Store on deputy commissioner's office road, where they stole Rs 30,000 in cash. Finally they tried to enter Manipal Stores near Tiger Circle, when they were caught.
The gang it appears, is comprised of experts in opening of shutters. In all the four thefts, they had chosen shops with sufficiently wide shutters, and in each shop, all the four together had applied strength to pull the shutters up, bent the shutters, and gained entry into the shops.
A case about the thefts stand registered in Manipal police station. Fingerprint experts and sniffer dogs assisted policemen in investigation.