Caught on camera: Mumbai woman steals gold from friend’s home

When the complainant asked the cops how she can catch her friend red handed, they advised her to install CCTV camera around the place where she kept her gold ornaments

A 29-year-old woman was caught on camera stealing gold jewellery from her friend’s home in Santacruz (West) after police suggested the complainant to install CCTV in her house. She has been booked for stealing jewellery worth Rs3 lakh, of which the police have recovered those worth Rs2 lakh from her house in Dharavi.

In October first week, Monika Bhavesh Rao, 25, a cook, who lives with her husband, son and mother-in-law, found that gold jewellery was missing from her place. Few days later, she found that another piece of jewellery had gone missing. Monika then suspected her friend Marya who visited her place the same day.

She suspected that her friend, Marya Joseph, also a cook, was behind this. Marya used to visit Monika’s home often and that same day she had been to her house.

A police officer said Monika then approached the police and narrated the whole incident to the cops. When she asked them how she can catch her friend red handed, the cops advised her to install CCTV camera around the place where she kept her gold ornaments. Monika followed their advice and installed the camera. She also bought a gold plated chain and kept in the drawer as a setup, added the officer.

The police then conducted a search at Marya’s residence and recovered some of Monika’s jewellery, said senior inspector Shantanu Pawar of Santacruz police station. “The accused has not been arrested because her daughter is young, but we have conducted punchnama, said Pawar.