A 37-year-old Maharashtra man who has allegedly committed thefts in many parts of the country over the past two decades has been arrested in Bengaluru, B Dayananda, Commissioner of Police, said on Tuesday.
Panchakshari S Swamy, a native of Solapur, has been arrested in connection with the January 9 theft of gold and silver ornaments worth Rs 14 lakh from a house at Maruti Nagar in the Karnataka capital.
The police said they identified Swamy as the suspect after collecting footage from more than 200 CCTV cameras. They seized gold biscuits of 181 g, silver ornaments of 33 g, and a firearm from him.
According to a police officer, Swamy began committing burglaries in 2003, when he was a minor. By 2009, he had turned into a professional thief, amassing wealth worth crores. In 2014-15, he developed a romantic relationship with an actress and spent lavishly on her, building a Rs 3-crore house in Kolkata and gifting her an aquarium worth Rs 22 lakh.
In 2016, the Gujarat police arrested Swamy, resulting in a six-year term in Sabarmati Central Jail, Ahmedabad. After his release, he resumed burglaries, leading to another arrest, this time by the Maharashtra police. Following his release in 2024, he moved to Bengaluru, where he continued his criminal activities. There is a case against him in Belagavi also, according to the police.
A police officer involved in the investigation said, “He is a womaniser and has spent a lot of money on women. He has a wife and a child but has gifted a house valued at Rs 3 crore to his girlfriend in Kolkata. Most of the time he operates alone, watching empty houses and targeting them easily. He also holds a black belt in karate and has links with some actresses.”
After committing crimes, Swamy would frequently change clothes to avoid suspicion, the police said.
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Swamy’s mother got a job in the railways after his father’s death, police sources said, adding that he had owned a house in his mother’s name and that a bank had issued an auction notice for the property over unpaid loans.
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