A 35-year-old man named Babajan has been arrested by Bengaluru’s Electronics City police for committing several house thefts over the years. He was caught after carrying out a burglary with his 16-year-old son.

Babajan has three wives and nine children, living in different towns — Srirangapatna, Anekal, and Chikkaballapura. He didn’t have a regular job and turned to stealing to support his large family. He started doing thefts around eight years ago.

Recently, he began taking his teenage son along. Police say he thought the law would go easy on a minor. On May 7, the father and son stole gold, silver, and cash worth ₹4.6 lakh from a woman’s house in Bettadasanapura. She had left her door open while going to the terrace — and the boy sneaked in while Babajan waited outside.

Babajan had a pattern. He looked for homes where people were distracted or doors were left open. Then he would send his son in to steal. The boy was trained to do this quickly during the daytime.

Police tracked Babajan down using CCTV footage and arrested him on May 13 in Mylasandra. He admitted to the crimes and said he had trained his son to help with the thefts.

So far, police have linked him to nine robberies. They recovered 188 grams of gold, 550 grams of silver, and a two-wheeler used during the crimes. The case has raised serious concerns about parents involving children in crime and the harm it causes.