Silvester D'Souza
Daijiworld Media Network - Kundapur
Kundapur, Nov 15: Kundapur police have arrested a couple on charges of committing thefts in houses and temples in various districts across the state.
The arrested have been identified as Rajesh Naik (42), a resident of Indrali, and his wife Padma (37), a native of Dharwad.
A complaint of theft had been filed in Kundapur police station by one Jayaraj Shetty, in which he stated that he had gone to his father-in-law's funeral on September 6 when thieves struck his house in Beejadi village. The thieves had taken away gold and silver ornaments valued at Rs 9,88,500. The police had registered a case under sections 454, 457 and 380 of the IPC.
The police who took up the investigation arrested Rajesh, who was residing in Dharwad, and his wife Padma on November 12.
Police have recovered 202 grams of gold, 1 kg of silver and 2 two-wheelers from them. The couple allegedly committed thefts in Kundapur, Udupi, Hubballi, Manipal, Gangolli and Dharwad.
Rajesh had been earlier arrested in a theft case and was released on bail from Manipal police station a while ago. However, he did not give up thieving, and along with his wife stole from houses and temples in Kundapur, Suratkal, Mulky, Manipal, Gangolli, Bhatkal, Murdeshwar, Gokarna, Kumta, Honnavara, and Karwar.
The operation was conducted under the directions of SP Vishnuvardhana and was supervised by additional SP Kumarchandra and ASI Hariram Shankar. Kundapur circle inspector Gopikrishna K R arrested the couple and recovered the gold ornaments that had been sold to jewellers in Dharwad. The accused have been produced in court.
The police team consisted of Kundapur PSI Sadashiv Gavaroji, PSI Sudarshan, Shankarnarayana PSI Shridhar Naik, Manjunath, Santosh, Raghavendra Siddappa, Sitaram, Victor, Gururaj, Udaya, women constables Baby, Chandravathi, Ashritha and driver Santosh.