JOIN USBurgling for splurging in malls
In the wee hours of Wednesday, 32-year-old Manjushree pulled over her Maruti Omni in front of a plush house at Roopena Agrahara in Madiwala. Finding the house without any occupants, she broke open the lock, sneaked in and gathered the valuables.
But moments before she could leave, the house owner, who had gone to the airport, returned to find a stranger in the house. When he called in the police, two constables, who were on beat duty nearby, came rushing to the house. The moment they set foot in the house, Manjushree locked herself in a room and enacted a drama pleading innocence. Police sources said Manjushree appeared to be well-honed in deception skills.
She is said to have given the constables a tough time, but when she finally emerged and was brought to the local police station for questioning, Manjushree confessed she had taken to burgling houses in the City from 2002.
By day she runs a bangle store in Hoskote and burgles homes by night. She uses a fleet of vehicles, including SUVs, to move around spotting vulnerable houses. Whenever Manjushree found a house locked, she would enlist the help of one Nagesh to break in, collect the booty and drive away.
She usually operated in Madiwala, Belikali, Mico Layout, Byappanahalli, K R Puram, Bommanahalli, Parappana Agrahara and Hoskote.
One modus operandi of Manjushree and Nagesh was to pose as a couple and obtain loans on stolen property. At times, she would sell the stolen goods to pawnbrokers.
Manjushree told her interrogators that she has two teenage daughters who go to a reputable City school.
The police are now digging into Manjushree’s property details and the quantum of wealth she might have amassed over the past eight years. She is believed to have confessed that she owns more than half a dozen sites and has a tidy saving in a few banks.
Before she took to burgling, Manjushree split from her husband, an Anekal landlord, after a fight over her share of his property. That quarrel turned bitter and he assaulted Manjushree, giving her the opportunity to have him sent to jail.
Her arrest has led the police to file 11 separate cases of theft and burglary. Besides, several lakh rupees in cash has been recovered.