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Lost job due to AI, stole ₹16 lakh jewellery: Police nab teen ‘Bunty and Babli’ in MP
The accused graphic designer was arrested along with his NEET-aspirant woman friend, both of whom are 18 years old.
An 18-year-old graphic designer from Madhya Pradesh’s Indore was arrested on Thursday for allegedly stealing jewellery worth ₹16 lakh.
The accused, whose identity has not been disclosed by the police, claimed that he had lost his job due to artificial intelligence (AI), according to a report by news agency PTI.
The accused graphic designer was arrested along with his NEET-aspirant woman friend.
The teen duo told police that they were inspired by the 2005 film Bunty Aur Babli, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Shrikrishna Lalchandani was quoted by PTI as saying.
According to the DCP, the duo allegedly stole gold, silver, and diamond jewellery worth ₹16.17 lakh from a shop in Rau police station area in the city on the night of December 22.
The entire booty was recovered from their possession after the arrest in Bhopal, where they had fled.
What did the police say about the teen ‘Bunty and Babli’?
Talking to reporters, DCP Shrikrishna Lalchandani revealed that both the accused are 18 years old. He said that the man used to work part-time as a graphic designer and told the police that he lost his job due to AI.
"Both are 18 years old. The young man is a graphic designer, while the woman is preparing for the National Eligibility and Entrance Test (NEET). The two have known each other since childhood. During interrogation, the young man told us that he used to work part-time as a graphic designer at an IT company, but lost his job due to the company's adoption of AI technology, and he was finding it difficult to make ends meet," the DCP said.
The police official further revealed that the accused, who come from an economically weak background, claimed to have planned the theft after watching the 2005 Bollywood film Bunty Aur Babli, starring Abhishek Bachchan and Rani Mukherjee.
"The accused say they tried to sell the stolen jewellery, but the buyers, thinking they were children, wouldn't pay the right price. So they had decided to sell it after the Christmas holidays," the DCP added.
