3 habitual burglars held; 7 cases solved

Mysuru: Three known offenders are now cooling their heels in jail on the charges of breaking into seven houses within a span of two weeks in May. The police zeroed in on the burglars based on their modus operandi and have recovered valuables worth Rs 18 lakh.
The trio - Murgesh, Gopikrishan, both residents of Channarayapatna, Hassan, and Manju of Hunsur - were detained, and arrested on charges of breaking into houses in Hunsur, Periyapatna and KR Nagar in May. They had targeted only locked houses and taken away gold valuables and cash from the houses, the police said.
With the arrest, the police have solved seven cases and recovered 289 grams of gold, about 2.5 kg of silver, worth Rs 18 lakh from them.
Similar modus operandi
Superintendent of police Seema Latkar said after back-to-back burglaries police teams were formed to uncover the crimes. The crime scene was similar in all the burglaries — doors were forcibly opened using metal objects and then the houses were looted. Gold, silver and cash were taken away. We suspected the role of the trio based on the modus operandi, and we succeeded in solving the case, she said.
Two of the accused are facing about 10 criminal charges and one accused is facing about six cases. One of the accused is aged 58. The trio teamed up when they were in judicial custody, the SP said.
Additional superintendent of police BN Nandini said the trio targeted only houses of middle-class families. They used to do a quick recce before breaking into houses. Only locked houses were targeted and crimes were committed in the night.
Police advised house owners and tenants to utilise the services provided by the cops when they locked houses and stepped out.
If jurisdiction police are informed by people, beat constables are tasked with the responsibility of guarding locked houses.