Three arrested for gold theft in Karnataka

Police in Harapanahalli have arrested three individuals involved in a gold theft worth about Rs 61.3 lakh. The stolen gold weighed 806 grams and was taken from a private bus transporting it between Davanagere and Vijayapura. The incident happened around midnight on Sunday. The gold was being transported by goldsmiths and traders who typically rely on this bus service. This time, the bus driver and the operator worked with Nithyananda, a former finance company employee, to steal the gold. On March 16, four men gave gold parcels to the bus conductor in Davanagere. When the bus reached Telgi at 12:30 am, the conductor told Kumar, one of the men, that a person pretending to be a police officer had seized the parcel. The fake cop claimed to be from the Davanagere crime branch and said the bus was carrying illegal gold. Feeling suspicious, Kumar reported the incident to the police on March 17. The police soon arrested the bus driver in Vijayapura. The investigation revealed the full scheme. The arrested suspects include bus driver Manjunath, conductor Krishna Lakkappa Lamani, and Nithyananda, who posed as a police officer. Authorities recovered three cellphones and the vehicle used in the crime. The police operation involved several officers, led by SP Sriharibabu BL and ASP Salim Pasha.