Booty worth Rs 15 lakh recovered

The Basaveshwarnagar police arrested Varada alias mental Varada (39) of Mahalakshmipuram and Hitesh (19) of KHB Colony and recovered the stolen gold. The duo had allegedly decamped with the jewellery from the shop of Dinesh Gandhi, a pawnbroker on Modi Road, by offering him a tetrapack juice, mixed with sedatives, on October 10.

Varada is suffering from a mental disorder while Hitesh is an employee at mobile handset shop. The duo met accidentally and got close. Varada would frequently pawn cellphones with Dinesh. The duo decided to dupe Dinesh Gandhi to make some quick bucks.

Varada told Dinesh that he had won Rs one lakh at the horse race and brought two tetrapacks of juice and offered it to Dinesh as celebration. Dinesh fell unconscious after sipping the juice. The duo collected all the jewellery and fled. Dinesh had failed to switch on the CCTVs at his shop.

The crime came to light after Dinesh’s son Yash came to the shop. Dinesh regained consciousness at a private hospital after five days.
Call details

Varada used to come to a video parlour located in the cellar of Dinesh’s shop. The parlour owner said that Varada was seen chatting with Dinesh before the theft took place. The police collected the call details and discovered that a person named Varahalu had called Dinesh before the theft. They concluded that Varada and Varahalu were the same person.

A few days later, the police traced Varada near his house and after Dinesh confirmed this identity, they took him into custody.

Varada started behaving strangely and claimed he was innocent. Police inspector H Hanumanthappa decided to ‘befriend’ Varada and gained his confidence. An impressed Varada disclosed the truth.

Gold in pit

Varada had dug a pit in his house and hid the ornaments without his wife’s knowledge. He took a gold chain to a pawnbroker to pawn a gold chain and the broker grew suspicious and alerted the Rajagopalnagar police, who arrested Varada.