Visakhapatnam: The central crime station cops on Monday arrested notorious thief P. Gangadhar alias Siddharth for having stolen valuables worth Rs 80 lakh from people in Vizag city. Twentyfive-year-old Gangadhar is an orphan and inmate of Amma Anadha Ashramam in Vijayawada from the age of two. Gangadhar would climb up the buildings using pipes and enter the houses by sliding the glass windows. Police also recovered 1.3 kg of ornaments, including diamonds sets and other property worth Rs 75 lakh, from Gangadhar.

ACP of CCS, Y. Govinda Rao, said that Gangadhar committed three offences in May and June including the major one at a flat in Varsha Apartment in Pandurangapuram area from where he stolen 1.3 kg ornaments and Rs 3 lakh cash. Gangadhar was arrested while he was trying to buy a bike with the stolen booty. Police said that Gangadhar was at the Ashram till he finished Intermediate.

In 2010, he along with some others, fled from the orphanage due to physical and mental torture. He took to crime to support his lavish life. In 2011, Gangadhar stole a mobile phone in East Godavari which was his first crime. He then came to Vizag and worked in hotels and committed mobile phone thefts. He was arrested and convicted twice and released in December 2016. Since then, he had been committing small offences and finally, committed a major offence in June, 2017.