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Two palatial houses, two swanky cars, bikes, gold and silver jewellery, lakhs parked in various bank accounts— all this and more were the “fruits of labour” of Chandar alias Antony over a period of 30 years.

The notorious burglar was finally arrested by Viveknagar Police. The 50-year-old, a native of KGF, had committed several house thefts in three decades, evading arrest all this while. The loot was used to construct two mansions in the City, including a four-storey building, and buy two expensive cars and other vehicles. He has even kept a portion of the stolen jewellery in various bank lockers, the police said.

“We have so far detected 32 house thefts committed by him. He could be involved in more such cases. We will get more information once his interrogation is complete,” CH Pratap Reddy, Additional Commissioner of Police (West), told reporters on Monday.

The police seized over 2 kg gold, 3 kg silver ornaments, Rs 5 lakh in cash, two cars, one autorickshaw and two bikes, all valued at Rs 80 lakh.

The stolen jewellery kept in bank lockers was seized in the presence of bank officers. The police have begun confiscating all his properties, Reddy said.

Chandar was arrested four days ago, produced before the court and was remanded in police custody. He disclosed his involvement in house thefts and it took some time for the police to recover the stolen properties, DCP (Central) Sandeep Patil said.

Chandar built a four-storey residential structure at Nagannanapalya in Maruthi Sevanagar for his second wife and bought her two cars, two bikes and expensive household appliances. He also opened bank accounts in the names of his wives and children, deposited money in their accounts and kept jewellery in their lockers.

He had also pledged a part of the stolen jewellery at two pawn shops. The police have arrested two pawn brokers.

Modus operandi
Chandar would often travel in his autorickshaw to identify locked houses. Sometimes, he would do a recce on his bike or car. At times, he would zero in on potential targets by simply walking around. He would also turn up dressed for the “job” — sometimes in blazers, sometimes formals. On other occasions, he would set out for housebreaking as a beggar. He would take position near the houses around 8 pm and wait there till late night.

He would normally carry a screwdriver, an iron rod and two small pieces of stones to break the locks. He was such a master craftsman that he would break even the toughest lock in less than five minutes, said the police. As a beggar, he would also barge into open houses, threaten the inmates and rob them of valuables.

Arun Kumar, a resident of ST Bed Layout Main Road, lodged a complaint with the police on October 25 that someone broke into his house and made away with valuables. The police analysed CCTV footage from nearby areas and collected leads. During investigation, some informants gave details about Chandar and his Maruthi Sevanagar house which led to his arrest, said the police.