Hyderabad: Two individuals have been arrested by the SR Nagar police on Friday, February 28 for allegedly stealing phones. The police recovered 28 stolen phones worth Rs 4.5 lakh.

The accused has been identified as Katta Naveen and Vittala Raju. They were involved in five theft cases across Hyderabad and Medchal-Malkajgiri districts.

According to reports, the accused Naveen targeted hostels without security, sneaking into rooms at night while occupants were asleep to steal mobile phones. He then sold the stolen devices to his associate, Vittala Raju, who helped dispose of them.

For the past three months, the accused had been committing thefts, primarily targeting hostels and bachelor accommodations.

Cases were registered against them at SR Nagar, Dundigal, and Medchal police stations.

A case has been registered and further investigation is ongoing.

Earlier, two individuals have been arrested for allegedly stealing mobile phones from hostels across Hyderabad and Cyberabad with their involvement in over 12 cases. A total of 51 mobile phones valued at Rs10,20,000 were recovered from the offenders.

The accused have been identified as Govind Bandari, 24 and Hikmat Rawal, 23, both from Nepal. They were apprehended near Hitech City railway station while moving under suspicious circumstances.

In a similar incident, a thief fell into a well after stealing mobile phones and laptops from a girls’ hostel of an engineering college in Hanamkonda district which is 144.9km away from Hyderabad. Further inquiries by the police revealed that he committed theft of 14 cell phones and six laptops in three days.

According to police, the burglar accidentally fell into the well after committing theft at girls’ hostel at SR Engineering College.