Beard in grainy footage helps police track down 4 burglars in just 48 hours

Police have busted a four-member gang that flew in from Delhi to burgle a house in an upscale locality in northern Bangauru. 

Police arrested Vishwas Minto, 49, from Delhi, and Harish Chandra, 32, Chandra Bhanu, 39, Jasvir, 38, all three from Uttar Pradesh. They also confiscated 1.43 kg of gold worth Rs 78.6 lakh and a Honda Activa from them. 

They have been booked under IPC sections dealing with trespass and theft in dwelling houses. 

The gang members landed in the city on July 24 and checked into a hotel near Yeshwantpur. They bought a Honda Activa and roamed around the city for four days, identifying potential houses. 

On July 28, the gang members noticed a locked house in Dollars Colony, Sanjaynagar. After making sure that the house was unoccupied, the gang broke into it that night. 

The gang then ransacked the house and stole the jewellery. 

Minto later flew back to Delhi while the rest took a bus to Agra. Police, however, intercepted them near the Shahin toll plaza on the Kanyakumari-Agra highway. 

"They used to visit houses in other states as well and stole jewellery that they directly took to Uttar Pradesh for selling. In this case, we managed to trace them within 48 hours and confiscate the booty," a police officer told DH. 

Beard gives clue 

Another police officer said not many CCTV cameras were installed in the locality nor in the house where the burglary took place. But an under-construction building on the same road has CCTV coverage. 

Police marked Harish Chandra through that whose face was vaguely visible. Though his face wasn’t clear, they picked his beard and matched it with other footage of the area. From then on, they identified the mobile phone networks active around the area, which led to the location of the accused. 

The officer noted that the gang has multiple cases in Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Bengaluru, Kerala and Tamil Nadu.