The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Call from `thief' baffles police, victim

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Nov 24, 2004

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Call from `thief' baffles police, victim

By Our Staff Reporter

HYDERABAD, NOV. 23. If the burglary last Saturday was surprising, the real shock came on Sunday. An unidentified person, owning up the theft of property worth Rs. 7.7 lakhs in the house of a software engineer, Srinivasan, in East Marredpally, called up the Tukaramgate police the next day. He sought the mobile telephone number of the complainant saying he wanted to `return certain stolen articles' to the owner.

To the shock of sleuths, the thief called up Mr. Srinivasan and assured him of returning the documents and bank cards he had stolen from the latter's house.

Bid to mislead?

The miscreant collected the postal address of the victim also. Believing the suspected burglar's words, Mr. Srinivasan waited at his residence, but there was neither a call nor any sign of returning the articles from the thief till Tuesday evening. "We suspect the burglar is trying to divert our attention and mislead us," the Gopalapuram ACP, Mohd. Tajuddin, said on Tuesday.

Both the calls to the Inspector and the complainant were traced to a local public telephone booth. Based on the timings of the calls received, the police sought details of the persons who visited the booth. "We're trying to develop a portrait of the accused based on the description given by the booth operator," the ACP said.

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