24 November,2010 07:10 AM IST | | Manjunath L Hanji
Cops, on the lookout for a notorious criminal, catch his wanted accomplice, but the main culprit gives them the slip
The city police have arrested Rajendra, a much sought-after interstate thief, wanted in seven cases, while on a mission to nab another thief. Interestingly though, their intended target Manja, a wanted criminal in more than 20 cases of burglary and attempt to murders, managed to flee.
Caught by fluke: Rajendra
Rajendra (44) has been on the run for the past seven years and is accused of stealing goods worth Rs 20 lakh. Interestingly, the accused had stolen also 40 silk and 15 cotton sarees to gift his lover and wife.
Manja, the absconding accomplice, is a wanted criminal and has more than 20 cases of burglary and attempt to murders against him. The police said that he has over 200 SIM cards and has been on the run since 2007. For every new attempt, he used a different SIM, so the police have been unable to nab him.
Rajendra was sent to jail for two years in 2006 in Bellary. Then he left for Channapattana, his native town, and stole money from his in-laws' home, and was arrested and sent to judicial custody.u00a0The case was later withdrawn, and Rajendra was told to leave town.
He moved to Bangalore and asked his friends to get him a driver's job. His trusting friends gave him a job as a driver, but he started robbing passengers whenever he could. Bhut soon his friends found out, and fired him from the job. But Rajendra got another job as a driver for an engineer in the city within a month. Soon, he started scouting for unguarded houses, and did some minor robberies.
He continued this up to 2009, and stole from five houses. But after a complaint with the Basaveshwaranagar police station, he stopped stealing for a while.
In the meantime, he became friends with Manja, who he had met in Bellary jail. Manja was looking for young 'talent' to assist him in robberies. The duo did two robberies together.
On Sunday the duo robbed goods from a house in Vidyaranyapura. But the police interrupted the attempt. Manja jumped from their car while the cops were chasing them, though Rajendra was arrested and sent to judicial custody.
Subramanya KM, PI, Vidyaranyapura police station said, "We wanted to nab Manja but he escaped. From our investigations we found that Rajendra is a close associate of Manja."
55 number of silk and cotton sarees that Rajendra had stolen to gift his lover and wife
