Bhubaneswar: Sanjay Nishank, who was arrested last week for a series of burglaries at Chandrasekharpur and Infocity, planned to start a transport business after selling off the stolen items, police said on Wednesday.

The police said the accused also claimed that he had committed similar burglaries in other parts of Bhubaneswar, including Nayapalli, Kharavela Nagar, Mancheswar and Khandagiri. "The accused claimed that he started committing burglaries after losing his job with a leading cellular company in January. We have found that he was involved in around 20 burglaries at Chandrasekharpur and Infocity," a police officer said.

"We now believe that may have exceeded 30 with this latest claims."

The police have recovered properties worth Rs 70 lakh from the 30-year-old BBA graduate.

These include gold and silver ornaments, laptops, mobiles, watches, saris, trolley bags and home appliances.

Deputy commissioner of police Anup Kumar Sahoo said the accused was being further grilled to ascertain whether he disposed of some stolen articles. "We are also verifying the claims he made during the interrogation. We have expedited the process of return of stolen articles to the original owners," said Sahoo.

The accused honed his skills from breaking into homes after watching YouTube videos. "He claimed that he watched videos on unlocking various locks and also practised the tricks at his rented accommodation in Laxmi Sagar," said a police officer.

The accused committed all the burglaries by wearing a helmet to hide his face. But it was the helmet that helped the police nab him. All the footage showed the accused of wearing the helmet of a particular brand and one letter of the brand was missing, enabling the cops to arrest him.