Manjula Chandrashekar | EPS
HYDERABAD: He is a Class-VII dropout, but can use advanced geographic locator applications to commit crimes. Meet Manjula Chandrashekar alias Chandu (31), an expert in burgling villas. Using Google Earth 3D, Chandu burgled a whopping 14 villas in just six months. He was arrested by the Cyberabad police on Friday.
“Chandu used the Google app to locate villas in isolated places. He looks for ones with easy entry and exit routes and then conducts a recce,” said DCP G Janaki Sharmila. When asked why he chose only villas, Chandu told Express: “Only rich people live in villas and I had a good bounty in the past. Now, people don’t keep gold and cash at homes.”
Still, the cops managed to seize goodies worth Rs 30 lakh from him — seven tolas of gold, four wristwatches, eight mobile phones and 1 kg of ganja. “Chandu was arrested earlier in 2015 and back then he was an alcoholic. But during his stay in the prison, he got addicted to ganja,” said an official who interrogated the criminal.
Chandu said, “I smoke up to get ‘high’ before committing an offence, and identify the entry and exit routes of the villas in Google Maps 3D view. Most of the villas have fencing over the compound wall and some are electrically charged. I enter, mostly, through the fence by fastening my hands with adhesive tape.”
Chandu has also burgled villas in Tirupati and Visakhapatnam. He was detained in the prison for a year under Preventive Detention Act. He was involved in 50 offences between 2009 and 2015, in AP and also in the city in areas like Miyapur, Dundigal, Pet Basheerabad, KPHB, RC Puram, Narsingi and Sangareddy district.
