73-year-old man, son held for stealing books worth over Rs 3

A 73-year-old man and his son were today arrested for allegedly stealing books worth Rs 3.24 crore from their godown here to recover the unpaid rent due for over one year from the tenant, police said.

P Narsimha Reddy, his son P Srinivas Reddy and the proprietor of a book store here, who had purchased the books, were arrested and the books, which were sold to a Mumbai-based proprietor, recovered, they said.

The books were stocked by N Devadiga, who had taken the godownon lease from Reddy, owner of the premises, in April 2016.

The tenant could not pay the Rs 50,000 monthly rent for about 14 months, amounting to Rs7 lakh, and the accused resorted to the 'theft' to make good the loss, Rachakonda Police CommissionerMaheshM Bhagwat said.

The stolen books were transported in 10 trucks to a book centre at Begumpet here and its proprietor Md Raziuddin, purchased the books for Rs 15lakh, police said.

He later sold the books to another Mumbai-based proprietor Dhamjee, they said.

Police said Devadiga had stocked 1.29 lakh books which were meant for distribution in Telangana and Chhattisgarh states.

Devadiga lodged a complaint on July 9 based on which a case was registered, police said, adding that efforts were on to nabDhamjee, who is absconding.