In a major breakthrough, Harugeri police have arrested seven members of an inter-state burglary gang and recovered stolen valuables worth Rs 36.1 lakh in connection with a house-break case reported earlier this year.
The arrested accused have been identified as Ravi Shinde (32), Sunil Natha Pawar (27), Shankar alias Bihari Saiba Jadhav (25), Dileep Tukaram Shinde (25), Kishore Rajabahu More (27), Vinod Gangaram Shinde (23), and Mithun Chimmaji Jadhav (24). Most of them are residents of Jalna and Parbhani districts in Maharashtra.
Addressing a press conference on Monday, SP K Ramarajan said the case was registered based on a complaint filed by Abhishek Suresh Pandey, a resident of Vidyanagar in Harugeri, Raibag taluk, on February 7, 2026.
In his complaint, Pandey stated that unidentified persons broke open the lock of his house on February 6 and fled with valuables. According to police, the burglars stole around 280 grams of gold ornaments worth about Rs 22 lakh and 1.5 kg of silver puja items valued at approximately Rs 1.3 lakh.
During the same incident, the accused also targeted the house of Saraswati Sanju Badiger, another resident of Harugeri, and allegedly made away with 25 grams of gold ornaments worth Rs 81,000 and Rs 7,000 in cash.
Based on the complaint, Harugeri police registered a case and launched an investigation. Acting on the directions of SP Ramarajan and under the supervision of Additional SP BR Basaragi and Athani DySP Prashant Munnoli, a special investigation team was formed.
After detailed investigation and technical analysis, the team tracked down and arrested the seven accused from Maharashtra. During the operation, police recovered 267 grams of gold ornaments worth about Rs 29 lakh, 1.08 kg of silver articles worth Rs 3 lakh, a Nissan car valued at Rs 3.5 lakh, six mobile phones worth around Rs 50,000, and Rs 9,830 in cash. The total value of recovered property is estimated at Rs 36,11,830.
Police said the accused are part of a notorious inter-state burglary gang. During interrogation, they reportedly confessed to involvement in several similar property offences across Karnataka, including in Athani, Ugar, Rabakavi, Chikkamagaluru, Kalaburagi, Vijayapura, Kolar, Harapanahalli, Chitradurga, Ramanagara, Tumakuru, Bagalkot, Davanagere, and Gadag.
The operation was led by Harugeri CPI Ratankumar Jiragyal and PSI Malappa Pujari, with support from personnel of Harugeri, Kudachi, Kagwad, Aigali, and Athani police stations, along with technical assistance from the Belagavi district police team.
SP Ramarajan said the gang is highly notorious and even assaulted police personnel during the operation. Further investigation is underway to determine their involvement in other cases across the state.
