Notorious thief held: Cops recover gold, dollar notes buried under the ground 

Thiruvananthapuram: A police team probing a theft case was in for a surprise when they recovered 47 sovereign gold and bundles of dollar notes stashed under the floor of a vacant house near Vilappilsala here.

Earlier, they succeeded in nabbing notorious thief Anil Kumar and the hidden booty was discovered during an evidence collection exercise held at his house in connection with a theft case reported at Kavil Kadavil.

Anil Kumar alias Jayakumar broke open a house at Kavil Kadavil and decamped with dollar notes and silver jewellery on May 18. He is also accused of committing a similar offence within the Medical College station limits on May 22.

He was taken into police custody on Wednesday morning. The booty, including gold ornaments, was recovered when he was brought to the house for evidence collection by a joint team led by Circle Inspectors of Thambanur and Medical College stations. The materials were found buried under the ground inside the vacant house.

Anil Kumar has been arraigned as accused in over 20 theft cases and served jail terms on several occasions. Having taken to theft at the age of 13, he purchased a new house at Vilappishala by handing Rs 10 lakh in January this year.