From office robbery to market resale racket: How mechanic–techie duo pulled off Bengaluru laptop theft
A mechanic and a former software professional from Tamil Nadu ran a coordinated operation to steal laptops from Bengaluru offices, wipe their data, and sell them in southern markets. Police have recovered 48 devices and arrested both accused after a weeks-long pursuit.
New Delhi: In a carefully coordinated scheme, one accused targeted offices in Bengaluru and stole laptops, while the other erased all digital traces to make the devices ready for resale. The stolen machines were then sold in open markets across Chennai and Puducherry.
The case surfaced last month after an employee of a private firm in Doddatoguru, near Electronics City, reported a missing laptop. CCTV footage showed a man walking out of the office through a half-open main door with the device. Police traced his movements across multiple cameras, following the trail to a hotel in Hosur and eventually to Kanchipuram.
Arrests and recoveries
Police detained the suspect identified from CCTV footage in Tamil Nadu, leading to the recovery of 48 stolen laptops. The two accused—now in judicial custody at Bengaluru Central Prison—were identified as M Raja Dorai (33), a mechanic, and D Gautam (30), a diploma holder in computer science, both residents of Kanchipuram.
Investigators said Dorai stole laptops from offices and handed them over to Gautam, who reformatted the devices before resale. Gautam had previously worked as a data analyst for a private firm in Dubai until 2022. After returning to India to care for his widowed mother, a government schoolteacher, he opened a laptop servicing shop in Kanchipuram—skills that police say were misused to wipe stolen devices clean.
Three-week hunt for the techie
Police said tracking Gautam proved difficult as he frequently evaded arrest. Undeterred, teams camped in Kanchipuram for nearly three weeks, posing as travellers and quietly visiting local shops before finally locating and arresting him.
According to investigators, Dorai, a Class 3 school dropout, met Gautam while getting his two-wheeler repaired. Their acquaintance gradually turned into a partnership that