Burglars hit pay dirt at posh house, make off with Rs 2 crore in cash

Two burglars desperately looking to steal Rs 2 lakh to clear debts hit pay dirt when they got a whopping Rs 2 crore in cash at a house in southern Bengaluru.

Their luck, however, eventually ran out as the police tracked them down.

The burglary took place at the house of Sandeep Lal located at 1st Main, 1st Stage, Kumaraswamy Layout, on March 28 at midnight. The arrested suspects are Sunil Kumar alias Tore alias Moses, 35, of Subramanyapura, and Dilip, 23, of Kebbehalli, Bengaluru Rural.

Police have recovered around Rs 1.76 crore and 190 grams of gold jewellery purchased with the stolen money.

Sandeep was away in Chennai when the burglars came. His father, Manmohan Lal, used to visit the house to check if everything was okay. On March 29, he found the front door ajar. A search showed burglars had made off with cash, gold jewellery, a laptop, a mobile phone, and other valuables from the house.

Manmohan filed a police complaint but didn't mention the value of the stolen booty. He waited for his son to return and do the calculation.

When Sandeep came back, he told the police that only Rs 2 crore in cash kept in a bag had been stolen while other valuables were intact.

Kumaraswamy Layout police led by inspector P Shivakumar tracked down the suspects by checking the CCTV footage.

Sunil is a habitual offender with seven burglary cases, while Dilip was previously arrested in a drugs case. They became friends in prison and were released on bail five months ago.

To pay the lawyers for the bail, they had borrowed Rs 2 lakh from friends. To repay the debt, they decided to burgle affluent homes.

They drove an auto-rickshaw and went around posh localities, looking for vulnerable homes. They eventually picked Sandeep's house after noticing that it was locked. They returned at night to burgle it.

Drank away to glory

The huge cash just left them flummoxed. After grabbing the cash, they took out a bottle of scotch from the house and partied before sneaking out.

They didn't know what to do with the money, though. They first cleared the Rs 2 lakh debt, bought about 190 grams of gold jewellery for family members and kept the remaining cash at home.

Asked by the police, Sandeep claimed it was meant to be spent on constructing a building. Police have kept the recovered cash in the government treasury and informed the income tax department.

Sandeep has been asked to produce documents to get the cash released through a court order.

Watch the latest DH Videos here: