Nephew, friend held for stealing Rs 28 lakh from 105-year-old

Bengaluru, Now 10: Residents of a Bagalkot village were surprised when two local youths turned spendthrifts overnight. Though jobless and lacking income, the duo binged on costly alcohol, hired cabs even for short distances and tipped lavishly, often up to Rs 100, at hotels and bars.

Mahalinga Yenkappa Malali, 20, and his friend Kallapa Lakkappa Meti, 28, were the most-discussed persons in Sanganatti village of Mudhol taluk. They were taking care of their relative Shivappa Allappa Ullageddi, 105, a landowner who lost his wife in February this year.

The centenarian, who’d no children, had leased out his 30-odd acres of land. Finding it difficult to manage things, Ullageddi sold the land for Rs 35 lakh in June this year and kept the money in his bedroom safe. Ullageddi had requested his younger sister Mahadevamma to send her son to look after him. Accordingly, she sent Malali and his friend, Meti, to Ullageddi’s house in July this year, police said.

The duo’s extravagance raised Ullageddi’s suspicion, who opened his safe and discovered that Rs 28 lakh cash was missing. “I had placed the cash bundles in four rows. The front row was intact. The last two were empty while the third row had only two bundles in it,” Ullageddi told police.

During interrogation, the duo confessed to stealing the Rs 28 lakh cash and returned it. “They had stolen it in October. We recovered Rs 26 lakh; the accused claimed they had spent the remaining Rs 2 lakh,” said police.

Both the accused were remanded in judicial custody and sent to Mudhol prison.