Gang involved in 58 burglaries arrested, Vizag cops recover items worth Rs. 29L

Visakhapatnam: The Vizag police busted a notorious gang of burglars on 8 September who reportedly committed over 58 offenses in four districts of north Andhra Pradesh. The police arrested three persons and recovered items worth Rs. 29.95 lakh from them.

The gang had robbed houses in Vizag city, Vizag rural, Vizianagaram, and West Godavari, the police said.

The city police chief, Manish Kumar Sinha, said the arrested have been identified as Bathula Prabhakar alias Rahul Reddy (24) of West Godavari district, Pedapati Naveen (21) of Vizag city, and Kuppa Taviti Raju (28) of Vizianagaram. Raju used to receive the stolen items from Prabhakar and Naveen.

The police recovered over 1,240 gms of gold ornaments worth Rs. 27.18 lakh, over 1,700 gms of silver ornaments worth Rs. 1 lakh, and over Rs. 1.69 lakh in cash.

Last month, burglars broke into the house of bishop K. Rajendra Singh in the Paradesipalem area in Vizag city and decamped with over 500 gms of gold jewellery and Rs. 2 lakh cash, all worth Rs. 13 lakh. CCTV footage led the police to the notorious gang and they arrested Prabhakar near Gnanapuram Railway station in Vizag. They also recovered the stolen property from his residence at the Gopalapatnam area in the city.

Later, the police arrested Naveen and Taviti Raju. Prabhakar confessed that they were involved in over 58 property offenses and had stolen items worth over Rs. 34.21 lakh.

The police managed to recover 87 per cent of the stolen property in the over 58 cases. The investigation is underway to recover the remaining property.