HYDERABAD:Five years and 11 thefts at star hotels after his release from jail, Hyderabad police finally managed to arrest suave ‘jewel thief’
Jayesh Ravji Sejpal in Thane and recovered ₹30 lakh worth stolen jewellery from his possession.
Jayesh’s latest target was a newly-married couple from the city. Posing as their relative, the thief, who had committed thefts at star hotels in 19 cities across the country, had gained access to the honeymoon suit of the
Park Hyatt Hotel at
Banjara Hills and escaped with gold and diamond jewellery worth ₹12 lakh on March 6.
After the sensational theft, police analysed
CCTV footage at the star hotel. On March 9,
TOI broke the news about the identity of the suspect and said special teams of Hyderabad police were tracking 46-year-old Jayesh, a resident of
Arambh Cooperative Society in Vapi and a native of Jamnagar in Gujarat.
With sustained efforts, police apprehended Jayesh from Thane in Maharashtra a couple of days ago and recovered ₹30 lakh worth stolen jewellery from his possession. “Jayesh had committed thefts at star hotels in 19 cities across the country. He is wanted in 11 cases booked in seven cities,” Hyderabad police commissioner Anjani Kumar said. He was brought to the city on Tuesday.
Apart from three star hotels in Hyderabad, Jayesh had committed thefts at star hotels in Mumbai, Visakhapatnam, Kolkata, and Raipur.
Suave Jayesh was a class 10 dropout
The other places are Allahabad, Gorakhpur, Banaras, Ghaziabad, Noida, Jalandhar, Chandigarh, Gurgaon, Indore, Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram, Bhubaneswar, Coimbatore, Mumbai and Bengaluru since 2000. After he was released from the Agra Central Prison in 2013, he committed 11 thefts till his luck ran out and landed in police dragnet again.
As reported by
TOI, Jayesh used to either target newly-married couples or guests attending a wedding-related function at star hotels. “He enters a hotel during morning hours when guests turn up for complimentary breakfast. He strikes up a conversation with potential targets and also spends time near the reception to gather names and room details of his targets. After gathering the details, Jayesh convinces hotel staff that he is a family member of the victim and obtains access card to their room to steal valuables,” the commissioner added.
Jayesh, whose tryst with crime started in 1991with the theft of a video cassette player (VCP) at Dongri in Mumbai, met his partner-in-crime Ramesh Chaag at the Arthur Road Jail. Jayesh had worked in hotels in Mumbai and Gujarat. With his job experience, Jayesh and Chaag started committing thefts. So far, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai and Agra police units had managed to arrest Jayesh.
“Jayesh uses body language to befriend people. There are security loopholes at star hotels and using Jayesh’s crime pattern as a case study, we will brief hotel managers on how to improve security,” Hyderabad police chief said.
Jewellery recovered from Jayesh Ravji Sejpal.
