Gambling addiction turns Bangalore ex-executive to a car thief

Written By dna Correspondent | Updated:

DNA Correspondent Bangalore Police have arrested a former executive of a multi-national company on the charges of stealing cars—a crime he used to commit to finance his vice of gambling. The accused has been identified as Yathish Kumar, 31, a resident of Magadi Road. Police have recovered six cars from him. Police said he was addicted to gambling in horse races and had lost a large amount of money because of it. He had borrowed money from several persons and had also pledged his car for `50,000 to a real estate agent. It was then that he decided to make easy money by stealing cars. He started to work as a part-time driver and made duplicate keys of his two employers’ cars. Later, when the cars were parked in the owners’ houses, he stole them with the help of the duplicate key. Then he pledged those cars, got money and lost it again in gambling. His next ploy was visiting car service stations in the guise of a customer and stealing the original keys of the cars. He used to note down the registration numbers of the cars. With help from RTO agents, he used to get the address of car owners and steal the vehicles from there, and later pledged them for money. Caught ‘cuz of bad luck It was an unfortunate turn of events for Yathish that landed him in the police’s net. One of the cars he had stolen and pledged ended up arriving near the office of its owner. Police said Yathish had stolen a Maruti Swift from Vikasa Soudha premises in March this year. The car belongs to a government officer working there. Yathish had pledged the car to a real-estate agent, Venkatesh, after changing its registration number. Two weeks ago, Venkatesh gave the car to a friend who had to go to Vikasa Soudha for some work. The owner of the car noticed his vehicle and alerted police, who arrived there immediately and the investigation pinned Yathish as the culprit. Police arrested him at the Race Course a week ago. The cars that have been recovered from him are a Toyota Innova, a Scorpio, a F

Police have arrested a former executive of a multi-national company on the charges of stealing cars—a crime he used to commit to finance his vice of gambling.

The accused has been identified as Yathish Kumar, 31, a resident of Magadi Road. Police have recovered six cars from him. Police said he was addicted to gambling in horse races and had lost a large amount of money because of it. He had borrowed money from several persons and had also pledged his car for Rs50,000 to a real estate agent.

It was then that he decided to make easy money by stealing cars. He started to work as a part-time driver and made duplicate keys of his two employers’ cars. Later, when the cars were parked in the owners’ houses, he stole them with the help of the duplicate key. Then he pledged those cars, got money and lost it again in gambling.

His next ploy was visiting car service stations in the guise of a customer and stealing the original keys of the cars. He used to note down the registration numbers of the cars. With help from RTO agents, he used to get the address of car owners and steal the vehicles from there, and later pledged them for money.

Caught ‘cuz of bad luck
It was an unfortunate turn of events for Yathish that landed him in the police’s net. One of the cars he had stolen and pledged ended up arriving near the office of its owner. Police said Yathish had stolen a Maruti Swift from Vikasa Soudha premises in March this year. The car belongs to a government officer working there. Yathish had pledged the car to a real-estate agent, Venkatesh, after changing its registration number. Two weeks ago, Venkatesh gave the car to a friend who had to go to Vikasa Soudha for some work. The owner of the car noticed his vehicle and alerted police, who arrived there immediately and the investigation pinned Yathish as the culprit.

Police arrested him at the Race Course a week ago. The cars that have been recovered from him are a Toyota Innova, a Scorpio, a Ford Ikon, two Maruti Swifts and a Hyundai Santro.

The police said Yathish had stolen the cars from Byatarayanapura, Koramangala, Mahalakshmi Layout and Vidhana Soudha police limits. The interrogation revealed that he had been stealing the cars for the past one year.