Chennai: While Google Maps is the go-to app for many to reach their destinations, the tech service has helped a couple of modern-day youngsters to steal from ‘wealthy’ houses in Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Visakhapatnam.
The duo landed in the police net in Hyderabad during one such attempt and a team from the Chennai police has recovered 120 sovereigns from them.
According to the police, Sathish Reddy and Narendra from Hyderabad were arrested by a special team in the capital city of Telangana, when they were about to commit a robbery in a house there.
Sources say, “The youngsters looked very decent and used Google Maps to target locked houses in posh areas of south Indian cities.”
During interrogation, they revealed that they had stolen valuables from 56 houses in Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Visakhapatnam so far.
Their victims include two residents in Chennai: Santhanam of Teynampet from whose house the culprits had made away with 27 sovereigns and Dr Kaushik of Nungambakkam who lost 100 sovereigns.
The duo’s modus operandi was to search for ‘posh areas’ on Google and find specific locations on Google Maps to reach the spot. They would conduct surveys on such houses for days. They would observe if the house was locked, unoccupied or whether people were living in it. The duo, after zeroing in on their target, would break locks using iron rods and wear gloves to avoid leaving fingerprints.
Based on information from the Hyderabad police, a team of Chennai police, led by an Assistant Commissioner, left for Hyderabad and recovered 120 sovereigns from the duo. The two, police suspect, were part of a larger team. The city police are planning to take them into custody to conduct further investigations.