A farmer, Malla Venkateshwara Rao, who allegedly committed 17 thefts in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, was arrested by the police on Saturday. Gold ornaments worth about Rs. 6 lakh were recovered from his possession.
The modus operandi of the accused is to visit houses, ask the family members to pluck grass for performing ‘puja’ by removing the ornaments. When the family members were busy in work, Venkateshwara Rao used to escape with the jewellery.
A native of Mangalagiri in Guntur district, Venkateshwara Rao was an agriculturist.
To make easy money, he allegedly started committing thefts.
In all the cases, the farmer followed the same idea. He committed about 17 thefts in West Godavari and Krishna districts and one in Kodad in Telangana, said the police in a press release.
The police recovered 175 gm of gold from him.