Cuttack, July 1: Police have arrested a man accused of stealing 33 laptops from the twin cities of Cuttack and Bhubaneswar.

The arrested, Himanshu Sekhar Padhi, 30, of Pattamundai in Kendrapada district, has also been accused of taking money from girls on various pretexts after befriending with them through social media, mainly WhatsApp.

Yesterday, the cops nabbed Padhi after he walked into a trap set by them.

Deputy commissioner of police Sanjeev Arora said Padhi, after being caught with a laptop stolen from a bus passenger at Badambadi, led the police to two persons in Bhubaneswar, to whom he had sold 32 laptops stolen by him over last several months.

The police tracked him while investigating a complaint lodged at Badambadi police station on June 26. The police received a complaint that a laptop had gone missing from a bag in a bus when its owner, who was travelling from Bhubaneswar to Jharsuguda, got down at Badambadi bus terminus to part with a friend in Cuttack.

Again on June 5, the same police station received a similar complaint. In that case, a laptop, along with a chequebook and an ATM card, had gone missing.

The police got a clue when a girl turned up at the police station with a cheque given to her by Padhi, who had befriended her by chatting over WhatsApp. Padhi had given her the cheque with the amount he was to repay her. As the cheque was in the name of another person, she smelt foul play in the transaction.

Later, a lady constable laid a trap and posed as a girl from Cuttack. She befriended with Padhi on WhatsApp and called him to meet her at Badambadi bus terminus. Yesterday, when Padhi turned up at the terminus, along with the laptop reportedly stolen from a bus at Badambadi on June 27 and nine ATM cards, the cops nabbed him.

"Padhi confessed to have committed several such offences from Badambadi bus stand, Baramunda bus stand and also en route from Bhubaneswar to Cuttack," Arora said.

"Later, he led the police to two laptop shop-cum-service centres at Saheed Nagar in Bhubaneswar. The shop owners had received the laptops stolen by Padhi," he said.

The police seized 32 unauthorised laptops from the shops. "He was arrested as prima facie evidence under Section 379 (theft) of the Indian Penal Code is well made out against him. His other involvements are under investigation," said Arora.