Tracing shadows

The high price of longevity

The bumpy road to recovery

A thief behind over a 100 burglaries and robberies in Karnataka and neighbouring states finally gave up his secrets, after he was brought back from the brink of death thanks to the police.The Banaswadi police, who made it their mission to catch this elusive thief finally found him on his deathbed suffering with Aids, after an almost eight-year manhunt. They made sure he was nursed back to some semblance of health and then made him tell them about his capers. The result was the recovery of 10 kg of gold and a smile on the faces of 90 of his victims.Born in Thiruvaruru in Tirchi, Murugan decided that a life of burglary and robbery was the one for him, and he literally turned into a menace sans frontiers. He marauded through Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh stealing from hundreds of homes and even looting a few banks along the way.In 2008 the cops finally nabbed the career criminal in Madiwala, but after he was released on bail, Murugan simply picked up from where he had left off. His crime spree continued unabated and the cops were left chasing shadows across state lines. The police scoured CCTV footage from the scenes of his crimes, but no evidence was forthcoming. The hunted remained at large, and the hunters were being frustrated at every turn.Enter Banaswadi police subinspector Mirza Ali. Ali looked at Murugan's case as a personal challenge. Little did he know that in order to apprehend Murugan...he would first have to save his life.Ali mobilized the resources available to the Banaswadi police, and after weeks spent scanning CCTV footage of burglaries, finally managed to find some footage of Murugan in the act. Now they had a time and date. They then began to analyze calls bounced off the local tower during that period and finally got their hands on a phone number. A bit more digging under rocks never turned, and they found the mother lode ­ Murugan's hometown. Murugan left his home and family and began his life of crime. But early last year, he found out he was HIV positive and his health deteriorated rapidly as he was not under medication. Eventually he couldn't even eat or walk. His condition got so bad that members of his gang took him home, but once there, his family refused to take him in. He was then admitted to hospital where his treatment was basic at best.And it was in this condition that Ali and his fellow officers found him...frail and knocking on death's door.Doctors gave Murugan just eight days to live, but the police were having none of it. Determined to not only document each of Murugan's crimes, they also wanted to track down as much of the loot as they could. The Bengaluru police rushed to a court where they asked that Murugan be released into their care. The assured the court that they would get him on a proper treatment regime and take him back to Bengaluru.As soon as the police -led by additional Commissioner (East) P Harishekaran; DCP, (East) Satish Kumar; and subdivision ACP Badrinath -brought Murugan to Bengaluru, the first thing they did was book an AC ICU ward and have him admitted. The hospital started treating Murugan to get his physical condition up to some semblance of health, while his HIV was treated at Bowring hospital.It took his doctors a full two months and round-the-clock care, but eventually Murugan began to limp back to health.It also helped that the police convinced his family to come visit him in the hospital.Maybe his conscience had been pricked by all the help the police had given him, either way Murugan started to sing like a bird. He started tell ing the police all they needed to know about the crimes he had committed "We started talking to him and he did too after seeing the kindness of the police," said an officer involved in the case.As Murugan began spilling the proverbial beans, the police finally realised the state-spanning extent of his sprees. So off they went, with Murugan in tow. They hired an ambulance and nurse and visited all the places Murugan claimed to have plied his trade in. The journey took them from Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh to the length and breadth of Karnataka. They visited all the places where he had either sold or pledged his ill-gotten gain. Over the course of the trip the Banasawadi police managed to recover nearly 10 kilograms of stolen gold, and in turn they solved over a 100 cases and brought a smile back to the faces of more than 90 of Murugan's victims. Needless to say Murugan snitched on his former partners-in-crime and now they're cooling their heels in jail.