Aspiring model held for stealing gold ornaments from relatives in Mumbai

Oshiwara police on Friday arrested a 26-year-old aspiring model for stealing gold ornaments from her relative’s house. The accused, who used to work as an advisor

Oshiwara police on Friday arrested a 26-year-old aspiring model for stealing gold ornaments from her relative’s house. The accused, who used to work as an advisor at an insurance firm, lost her job during the lockdown and was in need of money to continue her attempts to get modelling jobs, hence she resorted to stealing, said police officers.

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The arrested accused, Sheetal Nagraj Gholap, is a resident of Kranti Nagar in Jogeshwari (West), whereas the complainant, Sunita Agvane, lives in Ganesh Nagar, Jogeshwari (West).

An officer from Oshiwara police station said, “Gholap aspires to become a model. As she was in need of money, a few days before Dussehra she visited Agvane’s house. She was aware that Agvane and her entire family were going out for personal work. They left the house together but Gholap had purposely left behind her phone at the flat. When they came down from the building, Gholap said she left her phone, took the keys and stole the ornaments from the flat.”

“Agvane used the same technique again on Dussehra and stole some more ornaments. This time, the family noticed few ornaments were missing from their cupboard and visited Oshiwara police station to lodge a complaint. We registered a case against an unknown person under section 380 of the Indian Penal Code for theft and started investigation,” an officer said.

A team formed under the supervision of senior inspector Dayanand Bangar and sub-inspector Tushar Sawant questioned everybody who had visited Agvane’s house and during questioning Gholap confessed to the crime.

The police have recovered gold worth ₹2 lakh from a jewellery shop where she sold them. The accused was produced before metropolitan magistrate’s court on Saturday and has been released on bail.