Bengaluru: The J.P. Nagar police have arrested a native of Andhra Pradesh who allegedly targeted locked houses during the daytime, stole gold ornaments, melted them at his own residence and sold them to jewellery shops.

The arrested accused has been identified as Mehboob Khan Pathan (36), a resident of Andhra Pradesh. Police recovered 478 grams of gold jewellery worth ₹65.28 lakh, 1.5 kg of silver articles, ₹4.6 lakh in cash and one motorcycle from his possession.

According to police, the accused had committed a theft at the residence of a television actor located on 20th Main Road in J.P. Nagar. The complainant’s husband had left for a shooting schedule on March 11, while the complainant went to her mother-in-law’s house in Hoskote, leaving the house key hidden inside a shoe rack. Later that night, the husband also travelled to Hoskote, and on March 13, the couple went to Chennai with relatives.

As they needed the house key, they asked a friend to collect it from the shoe rack and send it to Hoskote through a delivery service. When the woman returned home from Hoskote on March 17, she found household items scattered and gold jewellery, including a necklace, four rings and a pair of earrings, missing from the cupboard.

Following an investigation, police arrested the accused near Nagawara Circle. During interrogation, it was revealed that he had been involved in thefts for several years and had made it his profession. He allegedly owned equipment to melt stolen gold at his residence and sold it in the form of gold biscuits to jewellery shops. Recently stolen ornaments had been given to a jewellery workshop in Channarayapatna, while some items were stored at his house. All recovered items have been seized.

Police said the accused is involved in as many as 32 cases registered across police stations in Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.

The operation was carried out by Jayanagar Sub-Division ACP Srinivas, J.P. Nagar Police Inspector V. Harish and their team.