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BENGALURU: With the arrest of Syed Abubakkar Siddiqui, Chandra Layout police on Tuesday said they have solved at least 57 cases of thefts across 28 police stations.

Siddiqui, 38, who even went to jail to steal two-wheelers, had adopted a fresh modus operandi — he robbed women of gold ornaments by donning a police uniform and wielding a wireless handset which he stolen from a constable.

While police are unsure where he picked up the idea from, they say it bears all similarities to the modus operandi of the notorious Irani gang, which used to steal gold from women posing as cops, without harming them.

Police have recovered 2.5kg gold ornaments, including 15 mangalsutras, two cars, two bikes and a wireless handset from him, totally valued at Rs 91 lakh. “We suspect he may have picked up this new method in jail, but it’s difficult to say,” said police.

“While he sold other ornaments as they were, when it came to mangalsutra, he separated the pendant and sold only the chain. We’ve recovered those pendants,” they added.

How the arrest happened?

According to police, personnel from various police stations in the south division were part of bandobast duty for a chief minister’s function in Annapoorneshwari station limits. Several cops, including those from Chandra Layout, came to Annapoorneshwari station after the function, where a senior woman lodged a complaint about someone robbing her gold ornaments posing as a cop.

“We immediately identified the modus operandi as there were some similar cases in our limits, but didn’t know the accused. We began scanning CCTV footage from the area and managed to narrow down to an area he might be staying. We eventually found his bike, which then led us to him,” said Chandra Layout police.

