Conmen who posed as Godmen arrested

Four inter-state thieves who burgled people of their valuables by posing as hermits were arrested by Kushalnagar police on Tuesday.

Kaloo Nath (40), Shernath (25), Vikramanath (45) and Surnath (21), natives of Rajasthan, are the accused.

Donning the appearance of Sadhus, they would trap the people through their mannerisms. Waiting for the opportune moment, they would give a powdered chemical to the people as prasadam. On inhaling the chemical, the victims would turn numb. Later, the con men would decamp with the valuables.

On November 24, they stole cash and mobile phones from Janashree Finance belonging to B A Nagegowda at I B Road in Kushalnagar. The incident was captured on a CCTV camera. A case was registered in this regard.

On December 2, the accused were travelling in a car from Kushalnagar to Mysuru. They failed to provide satisfactory answers to the police during the checking at Koppa Gate at 4.30 am. On grounds of suspicion, the accused were detained and were interrogated.

During the police investigation, the accused admitted to the crime. Finance firm owner Nagegowda too identified the accused as culprits in the crime. All the four accused have been remanded in judicial custody.

The car used by the accused, bearing the registration number of Rajasthan, a brass idol of Goddess Lakshmi, a box made out of iron, Rs 2,625 in cash, Rudrakshi and various types of powdered chemicals have been seized from the accused. The samples of the chemicals have been sent to the forensic laboratory for investigation.

The operation was carried out under the guidance of Circle Inspector Kumar Aradhya. Kushalnagar Town Police Station PSI H I Venkataramana, personnel M A Gopala, T S Saji, Suresh and K S Sudhish Kumar were present.