Richard Loitam’s lost phone found

While the Nelamangala police are yet to ascertain the exact cause of Richard Loitam’s death, they have succeeded in finding his missing mobile phone from a city youth.

The phone was reportedly missing after he was found dead on April 18, at his hostel room no.225 of Acharya Institute of Technology. However, it was not clear when exactly Loitam’s phone went missing.

Police said the youth had purchased the phone for Rs2,500 from another person, who, in turn, bought it for Rs1,500 from an autorickshaw driver. The auto driver had picked it from the accident site in Chikka Banawara, after Loitam fell from his two-wheeler. This happened a day before his death.

The investigative team has collected the call details of the mobile and also picked up auto driver Kemparaju, who first used Loitam’s phone. Kemparaju told police that he found the phone lying on the road near Saptagiri Hospital on Chikka Banawara, while he was driving his autorickshaw. He picked up the mobile handset (Sony Ericsson, worth around Rs10,000) and sold it to his friend, Jayanth, for Rs1,500. Kemparaju broke the SIM card before selling it to Gajendra.

The police took Jayanth and Gajendra into custody for interrogation.

D Prakash, superintendent of police (Bangalore) told DNA, “The case is under progress. We expect the pathology report to be out next week.”