India hotel guest arrested for stealing 120 TVs over four months

[Abdullah719]

A man has been arrested for allegedly stealing more than 120 television sets from budget hotels across southern India over a four-month period.

A senior police officer told BBC Hindi's Imran Qureshi that hotel staff never suspected Vasudev Nanaiah as he was a "decent and well-behaved" guest.

Mr Nanaiah would check in carrying a "fairly large suitcase", police said.

He had been caught stealing a TV from a hotel in October and was out on bail when arrested again.

Police alleged he went back to stealing within days of leaving prison.

Deputy commissioner of police Chetan Singh Rathor said that if Mr Nanaiah's suitcase was too small, "he would assess the size of the TV set in the room and get a new one".

"He would walk in and out of the hotel on some pretext so many times that the hotel reception would not realise when he had walked out with the TV set never to return,'' Mr Rathor said.

Mr Nanaiah was caught after the man to whom he allegedly tried to sell the television sets informed the police.

Bangalore police have filed 21 cases of theft and are hoping for a longer jail term.

A court will decide whether he requires a psychiatric evaluation.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-42164828

 

[Abdullah719]

Deputy commissioner of police Chetan Singh Rathor said that if Mr Nanaiah's suitcase was too small, "he would assess the size of the TV set in the room and get a new one".

"He would walk in and out of the hotel on some pretext so many times that the hotel reception would not realise when he had walked out with the TV set never to return,'' Mr Rathor said.

This is hilarious.

 

[R0H1T]

Did the guy steal from the same hotel, twice or more? He obviously hasn;t ever watched crime thrillers on TV or theaters!

 

[gani999]

In that photo on the BBC website, he has all the stolen TVs stacked behind him. So I doubt he is a thief. Maybe just a kleptomaniac who fancies televisions.

But real theft by hotel guests used to be a big problem in India. It has come down nowadays.

In the early 1990s, a director working in the same company as my dad once checked out of the Oberoi Grand in Calcutta, carrying a large parcel. The front desk didn't ask him anything. When the janitors went into his room afterwards, they found the commode missing. Since the hotel knew that it was the man's employer who had paid the bill, they merely sent a letter to the company asking them to pay up. Everyone in the company found out and had a good laugh at the man's expense.

And this was a company director who had a seven figure monthly salary way back in the early 1990s! It was a huge amount in India back then. It didn't stop the guy from pinching the hotel's commode in which thousands may have taken their dumps.

 

[hadi123]

This is a bizarre news story. 120 TV's is a lot, surprised it took a while to notice