PATNA:

Love hurts. Long after The Everly Brothers penned a lyrical cautionary tale about the strange things a smitten heart can do, an IIT-Madras chemical engineering graduate apparently quit his high-paying MNC job in Dubai to return with his nightclub dancer girlfriend to Bihar’s Muzaffarpur and embrace a life in crime. Now, he is in jail.
Hemant Kumar Raghu, whose roots are in Tiruvallur district of Tamil Nadu, was arrested along with three accomplices this week for allegedly stealing Rs 2.2 lakh from a woman. Police said they seized some cash, arms, ammunition and two stolen bikes from the suspects.
Raghu’s interrogation revealed how he allegedly went from being an MNC engineer living the high life in glitzy Dubai to thieving in Bihar – all after meeting and falling for a dancer from Muzaffarpur.
Police quoted the 40-something man as saying he got his girlfriend to quit her nightclub job, in return for which he agreed to accompany her to her hometown in Bihar. After spending all the money he had saved over a 15-year career, Raghu chose crime as his new vocation to “keep his girlfriend happy”, he claimed.
Muzaffarpur (East) DSP Manoj Pandey said on Wednesday that Raghu built a network with criminals in the district and would pick his targets with precise planning. “He has clearly turned into a professional criminal and confessed to his involvement in several crimes across the district.”
Pandey said Raghu appeared on the police’s radar during surveillance to crack a looting case filed on April 11. An investigation team traced the gang to a brick kiln at Madhopur. Raghu had been living as a tenant at Mithanpura in that town.