The police recovered 16 laptops from the accused. Picture by Ashwinee Pati

Bhubaneswar: May 2: Two persons were arrested yesterday for stealing laptops. Police recovered 16 laptops and a sophisticated mobile phone from them.

The accused have been identified as 23-year-old Jagannath Beria, an engineering student in the city who hailed from Baragarh district, and 27-year-old Manoj Kumar Singh from Cuttack.

The duo had been involved in several laptop thefts in different parts of the city, the police said.

Nayapalli police arrested Jagannath from Sailshree Vihar Phase II area while Manoj was arrested from Patia. Sources said while Jagannath was an electrical and electronics engineering student at a private engineering college, Manoj, who was jobless. He was set to get married on May 6. Nayapalli police booked the accused under Section 380 (theft in dwelling house) of the Indian Penal Code.

“After recovering 16 laptops from the two, police produced them in court,” said deputy commissioner of police (DCP) Himanshu Lal. The DCP said these two youths had been involved in several such crimes in the city.

“They were stealing laptops from private hostels and houses. They would then sell it to customers within and outside the state,” the DCP said.

According to police, the duo used to sell these laptops at very low prices. Laptops worth Rs 40,000 were sold for Rs 12,000 or less. “When Jagannath stole a laptop, he would hand it over to Manoj, who handed those he stole to Jagannath for disposal. They usually committed theft when people were not at home,” said a police officer. Police said on January 18, a laptop theft case was registered at Nayapalli police station. On April 22 and 30, two more such cases were registered at the same police station.

Out of the 16 laptops seized from the accused, three were mentioned in the complaints registered with Nayapalli police.

Police said they were investigating the matter further for more information. “We hope to recover some more laptops,” a police officer said.