It wasn’t the first heist for Papa Rao, who broke into a temple in Srikakulam district of Andhra Pradesh through a small opening in the wall and successfully stole a few silver ornaments. But when he tried to exit through the same window as stealthily as he had entered, he was trapped. Stuck at the waist and unable to get out, he called for help and was noticed by workers on a nearby farm, who were also unable to help him.
It was the police who had to come to rescue, opening the temple and moving him out of the window from inside, before taking him into their custody. The bizarre incident happened near Jadupudi village of Kanchili mandal on Tuesday, 5 April.
The Viral Video of a Trapped Thief
A video of Reesu Papa Rao’s predicament has gone viral on social media. He is seen hanging out of the narrow opening in the wall from the waist up, asking to be helped out, as onlookers recording the video narrate his story.
The person who shot the video is heard describing his situation, pointing to the ornaments he had stolen from the temple, even as Papa Rao repeats his pleas to pull him out.
“Out of greed for these ornaments, he broke the window and went in. Now he can neither get out, nor go in, so he has remained hanging out of the opening,” the narrator says.
The ornaments he was trying to steal had 9 gms of silver and were worth around Rs 650, Kanchili Sub-Inspector Chiranjeevi said. “He was stuck for about 15 minutes on Tuesday afternoon before some farm workers in the area noticed him and alerted us. We went and got him out and took him into custody. He will be sent to judicial remand today,” he added.
Papa Rao has been booked under sections 454 (lurking house-trespass or house-breaking in order to commit offence punishable with imprisonment) and 380 (theft) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). Papa Rao, who is 36 years old, was already accused in six property offences, according to The New Indian Express.
(Published in arrangement with The News Minute.)
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