Four students -- two pursuing engineering and management courses -- who allegedly burgled three houses and went on a pleasure trip to Kashmir after mortgaging the stolen gold jewellery, were arrested by the Cyberabad police on Thursday.
Stolen gold ornaments weighing 170 gm, laptop, LCD TV, and a high-end Blackberry phone worth Rs. 26,500, which they purchased with a stolen debit card, were recovered from them, Petbasheerabad Inspector S. Ashok Kumar said.
The arrested youths included Ankith Tiwari, Intermediate final year, Sourabh, 23, B.Tech. fourth year, K. Vijay, 24, and his brother Santosh, 22, studying M.B.A. and B.Com., respectively.
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The fathers of both Tiwari and Kumar are currently serving as Air Force officers, while the father of the other two accused is a retired military officer.
Tiwari, residing in Air Force Academy quarters in Dundigal, was fond of going to pubs and leading a lavish lifestyle. He made friends with Vijay and Santosh, who too wanted to lead a lavish lifestyle by hook or crook.
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The duo's father was running a grocery store outside the Air Force quarters. Sourabh, who too is living in the same locality, joined hands with them to commit burglaries. They did a reconnaissance of the area and broke into a house in Jayabheri Colony on the night of November 30.
Pleasure trip
The house owner and his family were away in Tirupati. Sourabh broke the latch of the main door with an iron rod.
They collected gold jewellery, and a debit card using which they purchased several articles, including a Blackberry phone and a Timex wrist watch worth Rs.8,000.
Even as the police suspected the role of a professional gang in the offence, the batch of students burgled two more houses–one in the same colony and the other in Alwal--over the next three days.
They obtained nearly Rs. 2 lakh by pledging the jewellery and went to Kashmir for a trip by train.
Stitching up the clues collected from the burgled houses, police picked up the quartet soon after they retuned from the trip.