Bangalore man stole laptops for kebabs, beer

Sold them for a mere Rs. 4,000, without even knowing what they are used for or the actual value of the goods

His own greed proved costly for 23-year-old V Santosh, who used to steal laptops and sell them at less than one-tenth of their original price -- to buy chicken kebabs and beer. He had been involved in the crime for the last two months, without even knowing what laptops do.

He simply sold them to a local for Rs. 4,000 apiece. All this stopped when the Bangalore police arrested him on Monday.

Santosh had come to Bangalore as a lorry cleaner last year from Tamil Nadu. After working for a while, he tried his hand as a lorry driver, but could not get a job, so he started working as a security person at a building construction site at the HSR Layout. But he was not happy with his meager income.

Santosh, a beer and chicken lover, lived alone and used to visit a local hotel for food. But since he was always short of money, he could not have these items to his heart's content. For this, he even took loans from many people.

Two months ago, he saw an engineer carrying a laptop. Since Santosh had never seen anything like that, he asked his friend Nandeesh, who apparently knew something about them. Nandeesh made him an offer -- he would buy any laptop Santosh could steal for Rs. 4,000.

Santosh agreed, and Nandeesh told him how and who to steal from. Since HSR Layout has the maximum number of techies as residents, there was no dearth of laptops. Another reason they were targetted was because most of them work in odd shifts, and would leave their doors open so as not to disturb their roommates.

Santosh went on a spree, and stole 16 laptops, LCD TV and four cameras.Following over 15 complaints, the cops started asking around, and found out that Santosh was seen at many scenes of crime. So they laid a trap, and started tapping his phone, and finally arrested him on Monday.

In his confession, he told the police, "I love chicken kebabs, and for the last two months, I had started drinking beer regularly. But all this cost money, and I never had enough. So my friend told me to steal these items. I don't even know what these devices do."

LY Rajesh, Police Inspector, HSR Layout said, "He stole laptops only for beer and kebabs. He doesn't know how much they cost. We also investigating his friend and soon we get all attempts of both. The police have recovered all laptops, and have sent Santosh to judicial custody."

Posted in Bangalore , Crime News , Laptop