In a significant breakthrough, Puttur Police arrested a four-member inter-state gang involved in nine house break-in cases across Puttur and Chandragiri constituencies, recovering gold and silver ornaments worth Rs20.4 lakh.
The arrested were identified as Mani (39), Suresh (35)—both from Tamil Nadu—and Kumar (29), Manikanta (25) from Tirupati. Two others, Prabhu and Manigandan, are still on the run.
Police revealed that Kumar and Manikanta came into contact with Mani and Suresh during their time in prison. Upon release, they teamed up to form a burglary gang. Their modus operandi involved identifying locked houses during the day and returning at night to break open doors and loot valuables.
The gang is linked to nine theft cases reported recently in the region. They also stole two motorcycles, which were used during their operations.
Based on the surge in house thefts, special police teams were deployed to track and apprehend the suspects. Following sustained efforts, the gang was arrested and large quantities of gold, silver, and the stolen bikes were recovered.
District SP praised the efforts of the police personnel involved, including Puttur DSP Ravi Kumar, CI Raverndra, SIs Obaiah, Naresh, Venkatesh, and the district crime team members — PCs Damu, Nagaraju, Ramesh, Mohan, Rajasekhar, Ravi Prakash, Mohan, and Munirathnam.
Police are continuing the search for the two absconding suspects and probing if the gang was linked to other thefts in nearby regions.
