Ever heard of a suspected thief who dispenses advice while returning the bounty taken from the rightful owner? This is what appears to have happened in Naguri, on the outskirts of Mangaluru.
Shekar Kundar, a mechanic working at a showroom of high-end cars, returned home for lunch around noon on Saturday to find his house ransacked. He called up his wife Tilotthama, a typist with the Department of Mines and Geology, and she found that 800 gm of gold ornaments and ₹3,000 in cash were missing.
Ms. Tilotthama said the thieves had entered the house through the rear door after she and her husband left for work. “I was really sad as my husband had bought that gold with his hard-earned money,” she said. Following a complaint, the Kankanady Town police launched a search for the thief.
Around noon on Monday, Ms. Tilotthama’s relative, who lives near the family, heard a dog barking after a packet was thrown into the couple’s compound by a person on a two-wheeler, who promptly sped away. She found a plastic bag in which was wrapped 600 gm of the stolen gold ornaments. Concealed inside was a two-page letter detailing how the writer of the note had seen four persons coming out of the house carrying bags. The person claimed to have snatched a bag from them and even thought of handing it over to the police, before deciding not to for the fear of being arrested. Instead, he threw the bag into the compound.
He added that any suspicion on him would force him and his mother to commit suicide.
He also advised the victims not to keep gold ornaments at home.
While the couple are relieved to get back most of the stolen goods, the police suspect it to be the act of a person who feared arrest.