Kerala police on Sunday arrested the notorious "Bunty Chor" from a hotel in Pune.
Kerala Home Minister Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan confirmed the arrest stating, "It was through a joint operation by the Kerala and Maharashtra Police that Bunty was nabbed from a hotel in Pune early Sunday," IANS reported.
"All legal procedures are being done," he added.
Pune Additional Commissioner Police Chandrashekhar Daithankar also informed the media that the state police will hand over Bunty to Kerala Police.
Bunty Chor, whose real name is Devinder Singh, is a Delhi-based burglar involved in more than 500 robberies across the nation.
On Jan 21, he broke into NRI businessman Venugopalan Nair's house in Kerala which was equipped with electronic surveillance devices. He deactivated the equipments and fled the spot with a sports-utility vehicle worth ₹28 lakh along with a laptop and two mobile phones.
The police had been tracking Bunty since and was informed by three motorists from Kerala that he was speeding towards the Tamil Nadu-Karnataka border in a car on Wednesday.
The police informed the matter to their Karnataka counterparts who intercepted the vehicle. Reports said that Bunty was arrested by Karnataka police while trying to escape after attacking three officials.
Karnataka Joint Commissioner of Police Pranab Mohanty on Thursday turned down reports of the arrest.
Bunty had committed 300 robberies in the national capital alone. He was sentenced to imprisonment after which he contested in the fourth season of TV reality show "Bigg Boss".
Bollywood movie, "Oye Lucky, Lucky Oye" starring Abhay Deol, is said to be "inspired" from Bunty's life.