Couple arrested for house theft

Tirumurthy, 35, and Suguna, 28, the couple who had robbed the house of Krishnappa, after making him eat food laced with sleeping pills, were arrested by the Yeshwantpur police.

Gold and silver ornaments worth Rs 14 lakh were recovered from them.

The couple had come to Bangalore from Dharmapuri in Tamil Nadu, three years ago and were residing in Mathikere. Tirumurthy was running a scrap shop near his house, but suffered losses.

While he was looking for another job, he befriended Krishnappa, who also hails from Dharmapuri. Krishnappa, a moneylender, had separated from his wife and children and was residing in HMT Layout.

Tirumurthy came to know about Krishnappa staying alone, used to take food for him from his house and thereby befriended him. After observing Krishnappa’s house, Tirumurthy and his wife planned to rob his house.

On August 10, Tirumurthy took lunch for Krishnappa laced with sleeping pills. Once Krishnappa fell asleep, he took the key bunch from Krishnappa and made away with 400 gm of gold and 3 kg of silver ornaments from the cupboard.

During interrogation, Tirumurthy said since he suffered a loss and did not have much money, the couple wanted to lead a luxurious life and therefore committed the crime, the police said.

When the police examined the calls made from Krishnappa’s mobile phone, it was observed that there were several calls made to Tirumurthy’s phone.
Before the police could reach Tirumurthy's house, the couple, along with their children, had vacated it. The police traced Tirumurthy’s phone and found that he was in Dharmapuri.

Special teams were sent to Dharmapuri and the couple were arrested on November 14. They have been remanded in judicial custody.