'Bunty chor' remanded to judicial custody

Notorious burglar Devinder Singh alias "Bunty chor", who was brought to Kerala after his arrest in Pune, was on Tuesday remanded to judicial custody till February 12 by a magistrate court in Thiruvananthapuram.

Devinder had allegedly committed a hi-tech burglary at an NRI's house in Thiruvananthapuram last week.

When he was produced before the magistrate, he contended that he had been roughed up by police during their prolonged grilling after he was brought to the city.

However, his contention was found to be wrong during the medical examination of him before being sent to the central prison in the city.

Devinder was brought to Thiruvananthapuram from Mumbai by flight by a team of Kerala Police who had rushed to Pune immediately on knowing about his arrest from a hotel in that city.

Delhi-based Devinder was arrested from the hotel after a receptionist there recognised him from the closed-circuit camera images released by Kerala Police shortly after the burglary.

Devinder gained entry into the house of the NRI on January 21 after breaking its high-tech security systems. After lifting a laptop computer and some other costly gadgets, he decamped in a luxury car parked there.

The hidden camera installed in the house, however, got a clear image of the thief and police identified him as Devinder, as he enjoyed the status of a skilled conman and had even appeared in a television reality show some time back.

A couple of days later, Devinder was spotted on the Tamil Nadu-Karnataka border, fuelling speculation of his arrest. He, however, gave a slip to police by abandoning the car he had stolen.