Bengaluru

Spider-Man

Orchid Enclave Apartments

Bangalore

Orchid Enclave in Seegehalli where this man managed to break into on Tuesday morning

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By Amit KumarIs he a thief? Or is he a voyeur? While the police are yet to figure that out, one thing is clear – this man could well be’sEarly on Tuesday morning, a family living in a flat on the third floor of Tower B ofin Seegehalli noticed the ‘Spider-Man’ rifling through the cupboard in one of their bedrooms. It was around 2 am then. When the family raised an alarm, the cat burglar scaled the water pipe and entered the flat right above theirs. By this time, news had spread about the ‘thief’ and panic-stricken families rushed out of their apartments. Just then, people spotted him scaling the water pipe again – this time he climbed right up to the 12th floor.Chandrashekar, the chief security manager of the apartment complex, toldMirror: “I received a call around 2 am about the thief in the complex. I went to the 12th floor along with other security officials where residents said he was last seen. But he was nowhere to be found.”A resident who noticed the thief scaling the water pipe spoke to Bangalore Mirror on the express condition of anonymity. “The thief seemed like a professional as he was scaling the pipe easily. He disappeared after he reached the top floor of the building. It is likely that he hid inside the plumbing duct. Luckily, he didn’t steal anything from the apartments he broke into,” the resident said.Police arrived on the scene by 2.45 am. For the next two hours, police and security officials looked high and low for the thief. But the ‘Spider-Man’ managed to make himself scarce, just like a rat that can stay hidden for hours together when spotted inside one’s house.Also, it wasn’t very easily to comb through the complex. Orchid Enclave has 132 flats – spread over three towers of 12 floors each. The central park is quite expansive too. He could have chosen any corner – or any flat -- to stay hidden.There were some anxious moments as police went looking for the thief. In the end at around 5 am, he was caught in a rather undramatic fashion – while he was climbing down using the staircase.“This is the first time that such an incident has taken place in our apartment. I hope security arrangements will be tightened by the management people,” the resident quoted above said. The chief security manager promised to review and plug loopholes in the security set-up.An official from the Kadugodi police station, where the FIR is registered, said that the suspect is in custody. “We are trying to ascertain why he entered the apartment complex. We are not sure if he broke into the apartments to steal. No valuables were found on him. We cannot identify him as investigations are still underway,” the official said. Chandrashekar said the man looked to be in his early 20s.Twelve floors without a safety net or harness. If only this man had put his skills to some good use.