Senior citizen turns burglar to splurge on five ‘girlfriends’
NEW DELHI: For this 63-year-old, age was just a number. He was nimble enough to be a cat burglar— a crime he took to in order to splurge on his five ‘girlfriends’. He exercised, dyed his hair and lived life “king-size”.
What did him in was the CCTV footage from a factory in north Delhi. Police saw the man making off with valuables and arrested him on Monday.
Deputy commissioner of police (north) Nupur Prasad said the accused, Bandhu Ram, was in a relationship with at least five women and would gift them the valuables he stole.
“He would sell the rest of the booty to fund his extravagant lifestyle,” DCP Prasad said.
Ram is no stranger to burglaries, police said. “He has been into crime for over 20 years and has been arrested several times in the past,” the DCP said.
A bachelor, Ram lived in a slum in central Delhi’s Anand Parbat. He had moved away from his family in Mangolpuri years ago to live separately. The women he is involved with are all aged between 28 and 40 years, police said.
“The women were either ignorant of Ram’s criminal past or had faint ideas about his background. They claimed they were not aware that the gifts he gave them were stolen items. They also weren’t aware of his multiple relationships,” an officer said.
Police said Ram’s latest burglary was at a factory in Sarai Rohilla in the early hours of Saturday. The factory staff had opened the shutters in the morning and realised that two laptops, a smart LED television set and ₹60,000 cash were stolen.
A case was registered at Sarai Rohilla police station. Police said while scanning the CCTV camera footage, the suspect was seen taking away valuables. It turned out that at least three others burglaries in the same neighbourhood in the recent past were carried out by Ram, police said.
A subsequent probe and a secret input led to his arrest from Anand Parbat. The stolen electronics and ₹5,000 cash were recovered from him, police said.