Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru (EP)

Mangaluru, Nov 2: The city crime branch (CCB) police on Thursday November 2 arrested three persons including a woman in connection to two thefts that occured in the city last month.

The accused have been identified as Jayant (23), Vijwal Poojary (23) and Gunavathi (48), all from Katipalla.

While Jayant, who had been earlier arrested in other theft cases and was out on bail, is said to be the main accused, Gunavath faces charges of helping Jayant pledge stolen jeweller in financial institutions to borrow loan.

In the first incident that took place on October 12, Jose and his wife Theresa, residents of Mescom KPTCL residential quarters in Bondel, had locked their house and gone out to visit an ailing family member in hospital. When they returned at around 5.30 pm, they found the backdoor of their residence and two cupboards in their bedroom opened and 20 sovereign jewellery worth Rs 3,50,000 missing. A complaint was registered in Kavoor police station in this regard.

In the second incident reported on October 24, Harish Kumar who resides at the PWD quarters at Urva Store here, had gone to work as usual after locking the quarters at around 9.45 am. When he returned in the afternoon, he found that the backdoor of his quarters had been forced open. Somebody had broken the door of the cupboard in the prayer room and stolen 20 sovereigns of gold from it. A complaint was registered in Urva police station in this regard.

Accused Jayant alias Tapori is an accused in three incidents of thefts and was released on bail two months ago. He is also an accused in an attempted murder case in Suratkal police station, robbery in 2016 and a theft case under Urva police station limits.

Vijwal Poojary is an accused in the murder of Manikanta in Chelar in Suratkal police station, attempted murder of a youth in Katipalla, attempted murder in Jokatte of Panambur police station limits and attempted murders in Karkala police station limits. He was released on bail four months ago. He was earlier in judicial custody under Goonda Act for being involved in several criminal activities. He is an accomplice of rowdy Kodikere Manoj.

It is said that Jayant had pledged stolen jewellery in two financial institutions through Vijwal Poojary and Gunavathi. A portion of the amount received after pledging the gold was kept by the duo. Gold weighing 131 grams, Rs 15,000 cash, a mobile phone, artificial gold jewellery, knife used for theft, iron rod, Bajaj Pulsar bike and Mahendra Bolero jeep have been recovered from the accused. The total value of the items recovered is Rs 8,44,657. The accused and the items have been handed over to Kavoor police station for further action.

Mangaluru CCB unit officer and staff conducted the operation under the guidance of law and order DCP Hanumantaraya and traffic division DCP Uma Prashanth on the orders of police commissioner T R Suresh.