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Steal, erase, resell: How mechanic, techie robbed laptops in Bengaluru and sold them in Chennai
The operation came to light when Bengaluru city police recovered 48 stolen laptops and arrested the two suspects.
In an unusual collaboration, a mechanic and a former software professional from Tamil Nadu orchestrated a scheme to steal laptops and sell them in open markets. One stole the devices, while the other erased their digital traces before resale.
The operation came to light when Bengaluru city police recovered 48 stolen laptops and arrested the two suspects, who are now in judicial custody at Bengaluru Central Prison.
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CCTV footage leads to arrest
The accused have been identified as M Raja Dorai, 33, a mechanic, and D Gautam, 30, a diploma holder in computer science. Both are residents of Kanchipuram in Tamil Nadu. The case emerged last month after an employee at a private firm in Doddatoguru, near Electronics City, reported a missing laptop, according to a report by The Times of India (TOI).
CCTV footage showed a man casually walking out of the office through a half-open main door carrying the laptop. Police tracked him through multiple CCTV recordings to a hotel in Hosur and then to Kanchipuram. Dorai was detained by police in Tamil Nadu and reportedly confessed to the crime.
Laptops sold across Chennai and Puducherry
Investigators said Dorai had been stealing laptops from Bengaluru offices and handing them to Gautam, who reformatted the devices before selling them in markets across Chennai and Puducherry.
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Police described Gautam’s arrest as complicated. Gautam frequently evaded arrest.
Undeterred, the police camped in Kanchipuram for nearly three weeks, posing as travellers and discreetly visiting shops before finally locating him.
Gautam had worked as a data analyst for a private firm in Dubai until 2022. He returned to India to care for his widowed mother, a government schoolteacher, and opened a laptop servicing shop in Kanchipuram. Dorai, a Class III school dropout, developed a friendship with Gautam while getting his two-wheeler repaired, which police said eventually led to their criminal partnership.
