Two steal 2.5kg gold from south Delhi jewellery shop

Officers said that the suspects took advantage of a glitch in the software used for billing and sales to steal the jewellery

Two employees of a jewellery showroom in southeast Delhi’s Lajpat Nagar have been arrested for stealing 2.5kg of gold jewellery worth nearly ₹1.5 crore, police said on Tuesday. Officers said that the suspects took advantage of a glitch in the software used for billing and sales to steal the jewellery over the past several months.

One of the two arrested employees of the showroom. (HT Photo)

Rajesh Deo, deputy commissioner of police (south-east), identified the arrested employees as Gyan Prakash, 37, and Sarita Pathak, 32. “We have recovered almost the entire stolen gold and ₹10.6 lakh cash from their homes,” the DCP said.

Prakash worked as a billing executive at the showroom while Pathak was working as a sales executive. The two suspects were arrested on Tuesday after a complaint was received on Sunday, police said.

“To steal the jewellery items, the duo would identify two pieces of jewellery, one lightweight item (2-3g) and another a heavyweight item (50-100g). Pathak would then prepare a rough sale document for the lightweight item and give it to Prakash, who prepared the bill,” said the DCP.

“As soon as the tag number of the light jewellery item was fed in the computer, its weight and price were reflected, which would be a meagre amount. Then the tag number of the first item was removed and the tag number of heavier jewellery was entered,” the officer said.

However, despite feeding the tag number of the heavier jewellery, the weight of the lighter jewellery was reflected on the bill, the officer said.

“The duo made payment for the lighter jewellery and took the heavier jewellery. They claimed that it was purchased by a customer and later clandestinely stole the heavier jewellery from the showroom,” said Deo.