12 years on, junior film artiste held for bike thefts

A junior film artiste was arrested by the police on Thursday on charges of stealing two motorcycles way back in 2002.

The suspect, Narasimhaiah, 45, has acted in Kannada films ‘Swayamvara,’ ‘Bombat’ and ‘Gooli.’

He acted with leading film actors, including Sudeep, Darshan, Ganesh and Ambareesh.

He also runs a marriage bureau in Peenya.

According to the police, he had stolen two bikes from Malleswaram and Upparpet and sold them off.

But with little clues, police had failed to arrest him.

“We decided to trace the old offenders and dispose of unsolved cases.

There were two bike thefts in Malleswaram and Upparpet. We worked on tips and arrested him from Peenya,” DCP (North) Sandeep Patil told Deccan Herald.

The police collected details about the bikes’ registration numbers and the places where they were stolen.

In the process, they got some evidence about Narasimhaiah, and finally picked him up from his office.

Narasimhaiah was earlier arrested by the Upparpet and Kalasipalya police for vehicle thefts. Police had even taken his photographs.

The sub-inspector, who caught Narasimhaiah on Thursday, said: “While sifting through the files of Upparpet and Kalasipalya police stations, I stumbled upon Narasimhaiah’s photographs. I grew suspicious as I knew him as an artiste and had seen his films.”

The sub-inspector further said he managed to get Narasimhaiah’s phone number.

He sifted through the call detail record and noticed that Narasimhaiah had made repeated calls to a girl.

But the police could not trace him.

“I managed to trace the girl and asked her about Narasimhaiah. She told me he was not in town. I contacted her again on Wednesday.

She told me he would come to her house on Thursday morning. So, we went there and kept a vigil for about an hour until he emerged out of the house,” the sub-inspector said.

“But there were so many changes in him. He looked completely different from the photographs. I then went to him and said, ‘hello, how are you, Narasimhaiah?’

He shook hands and said he was fine. “I immediately caught him,” the sub-inspector added.

Service manager robbed

Anand Kumar, 38, service manager at Pushparang Service Apartment on Langford Road, was accosted and robbed by a seven-member gang on Wednesday night.

Around 10 pm, the gang members, posing as college students, walked into the apartment and asked Anand for a room.

When he informed them that there were no rooms available, a verbal duel broke out.

The gang members snatched Rs 23,000 cash kept in the cash box. The police have launched a manhunt.

2 killed in road accidents

Puttaswamy Gowda, 43, a cashier at a bar in Cox Town, was killed on the spot when an unidentified vehicle rammed his two-wheeler near Krishna Flour Mill in Seshadripuram in the early hours of Thursday.

A resident of Magadi Road, he was returning home after work when the accident occurred around 2 am.

In another case, R Ramanji, 39, a manager at a private company, was killed when a speeding lorry hit him from behind on Hosur Road on Thursday.

A resident of Siddapura, Ramanji was walking back to office after lunch when the lorry hit him, killing him on the spot.

Passersby caught the lorry driver Dharmanna, 40, and handed him over to the police.