Burglar who faked speech, hearing disabilities nabbed

For three weeks each month, 43-year-old Jaya Kumar would drive an auto-rickshaw in Chennai, ostensibly earning a livelihood. In the fourth week, however, he would make his way to Delhi, where he lived in budget hotels in Paharganj, took buses and Metros, visited malls, banks, gyms and pretended to have a hearing and speech impairment

- Karn Pratap Singh

According to the Delhi police, Kumar allegedly did all this to steal laptops and mobile phones, which he would then sell in Chennai after each visit for 50,000-270,000. On Thursday, he was arrested in relation to a series of thefts he committed over two years in Delhi-NCR.

In his last and latest visit, Kumar allegedly committed three thefts, including that of a mobile phone of a doctor of a premier private hospital in southeast Delhi's Sarita Vihar. The Delhi Police said a stolen laptop and two cellphones have been recovered from him.

Kumar visited crowded public places pretending to be a deaf and mute person looking for donations for medical treatment.