Under debt, techie steals 50 laptops worth Rs 22 lakh from employer in Bengaluru

Bengaluru: Having lost money in a failed tomato cultivation and cyber centre businesses, a system administrator at a multimedia firm stole 50 company laptops before being arrested by the police, officials said on Tuesday.

The 29-year-old suspect, Murugesh M, from Tamil Nadu’s Hosur, was employed as a system administrator at Technicolor India Pvt Ltd in Whitefield since February 2024.

Police said Murugesh incurred an estimated loss of Rs 25 lakh during the Covid-19 pandemic due to his unsuccessful tomato farming venture and a profitless cyber centre.

"As a system administrator, Murugesh was responsible for managing the laptop inventory," a police official explained. "This gave him easy access to steal laptops one or two at a time."

Murugesh sold the stolen laptops at a repair shop in Hosur, where he falsely claimed he was authorised by the company to make the sales. This was revealed during the investigation, with the suspect admitting he stole the laptops over two months.

Murugesh stopped attending work on August 22, prompting the company to investigate the missing laptops, which were stored in a CCTV-monitored room. The CCTV footage showed Murugesh taking the laptops from storage, using them briefly and then placing them in his bag before leaving the building.

Caught inside theatre 

The Whitefield police registered a case on August 30 and began their investigation, tracing Murugesh to Hosur. On September 2, four officers from Whitefield travelled to Hosur and found Murugesh at the local Raghavendra Theatre.

“He was inside the theatre unaware of our presence,” an investigator said. “Our officers approached him, identified themselves and took him into custody. He was then brought to Bengaluru.”

Police recovered five laptops from Murugesh at the time of his arrest. During questioning, he confessed to selling 45 laptops at the shop in Hosur, which were subsequently recovered by the police on September 3. The total value of the stolen laptops was estimated at Rs 22 lakh.

Murugesh was remanded to jail on September 9 after spending eight days in police custody.