Nagpur: A woman suffering from a mental condition and belonging to a business family picked up two gold bangles worth around Rs three lakh from an upmarket jewellery showroom near the Divisional Railway Manager's office, before fleeing the place, only to be captured in her act by CCTV cameras.
The incident occurred on November 26. After analysing data from nearly 80 CCTV cameras, including those in the shop, the Sadar police station staff managed to identify the woman who is in her mid-40s. Four days after the theft, police were left dumbfounded after discovering the woman stayed at a posh residence in Lakadganj. Her husband and family run a shop under Tehsil police station limits, saidd police.
The woman, who has been under psychiatric treatment since 2005, had a similar offence registered against her at Ambazari police station a couple of years ago, while another case was not registered at the request of her family. Police said the case against the woman at Ambazari police station was quashed after her mental condition was assessed. Sadar police, after recovering the stolen bangles, refrained from arresting her after the family produced medical records of her treatment.
Sadar police station's senior inspector Manish Thakare stated that the woman left the jewellery shop with the bangles in the evening when the saleswomen were focusing on other customers. The shop management realised the theft later in the evening while assessing the stock. After reviewing their internal CCTV network, the shop management approached the Sadar police station.
Senior inspector Thakare stated that the CCTV in the shop captured the woman's image. "The probe team, under sub-inspector Nilesh Ghogre, obtained CCTV footage of the woman sitting in an auto-rickshaw, which was traced through the local intelligence network. With the help of inputs from the auto-rickshaw driver, the woman's residence was traced. Her family cooperated in recovering the gold bangles from her. We issued her a notice of the offence," said Thakare, who is now supervising the probe under Zonal DCP Rahul Madane.