Thiruvananthapuram: Delhi’s notorious ‘Bunty Chor’, who was involved in more than 500 burglaries across the country, has been nabbed by Kerala Police from a hotel in Pune early on Sunday, within days of looting the house of a businessman here, a minister said.

State Home Minister Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan confirmed that Bunty is in the custody of the Kerala Police.

“It was through a joint operation by the Kerala and Maharashtra Police that Bunty was nabbed from a hotel in Pune early Sunday,” said Radhakrishnan.

“All legal procedures are being done,” added Radhakrishnan.

Devinder Singh, alias Bunty Chor, reportedly broke into a high security house of Gulf NRI businessman Venugopalan Nair on January 21.

‘Bunty’ allegedly deactivated electronic surveillance devices and drove off with a sports utility vehicle (SUV) worth Rs 2.8 million, a laptop and two mobile phones from Nair’s house.

‘Bunty’ was spotted speeding on the SUV on the Tamil Nadu-Karnataka border on Wednesday afternoon by three motorists from Kerala.

Media reports said that Kerala Police informed their Karnataka counterparts who intercepted an SUV, allegedly driven by ‘Bunty’, while its occupants were seeking directions for Bengaluru.

According to the reports, ‘Bunty’ was allegedly nabbed by Karnataka Police after he initially managed to escape after attacking three policemen.

Karnataka Joint Commissioner of Police Pranab Mohanty on Thursday confirmed to the media here that ‘Bunty’ had not been arrested.

Reacting to the news of Bunty’s arrest, Nair said he is awaiting to meet the “all-India thief”.

A Bollywood movie, “Oye Lucky, Lucky Oye” starring Abhay Deol, was made in 2008 on the life of ‘Bunty’.

After serving a prison sentence, ‘Bunty’ was a contestant in “Bigg Boss Season 4” aired on TV channel Colors in 2010.