Two persons were arrested by the Madivala police on Monday on the charge of stealing laptops and other electronic equipment from houses of bachelors or PG accommodations in south-east Bengaluru.
Posing as differently-abled persons, the accused would ask for donations to identify their targets and would steal when they were not home. The duo, Ramesh Kaliappa and Manikantan, from Tamil Nadu, came to Bengaluru in search of jobs a few years ago. Manikantan, said to be the mastermind, is an engineering graduate and has technical knowledge of laptops.
Around 85 laptops and ₹30 lakh were seized from the duo. There were cases registered against them in Madivala, Koramangala, Byataranyapura, HSR Layout, and Saddaguntepalya police stations.
Manikantan from Chennai recruited Kaliappa, who is from Ambur. Kaliappa then lured at least six more persons into the gang with the promise of easy money, the police said.