Rs 10-lakh theft by teenager during wedding at Chandigarh’s Hotel Mountview

A teenager is suspected to have decamped with cash and jewellery totalling nearly Rs 10 lakh from the wedding reception of the son of the president of Ludhiana’s Hero Cycles at Hotel Mountview in Sector 10 here on Monday night.

A teenager is suspected to have decamped with cash and jewellery totalling nearly Rs 10 lakh from the wedding reception of the son of the president of Ludhiana’s Hero Cycles at Hotel Mountview in Sector 10 here on Monday night.

The incident was reported at around 10pm when the reception was underway at the hotel lawns where about 150 guests were present.

“We were sitting at a table and a photographer asked us for a family photo. My wife kept the bag containing cash and jewellery on the table. Within minutes, it was gone,” SS Saini, president of Ludhiana’s Hero Cycles said, adding the bag contained Rs 8-lakh worth ornaments of his wife and daughter, besides nearly Rs 2.5-lakh in cash.

As per family members, the teenager was seen loitering by guests. But they presumed him to be a helper. “Later we were told that a boy was seen running out of hotel. Every vehicle entering the venue was being checked. But sadly they did not check the boy who was running out of the hotel,” Saini said.

Police said they were yet to lodge an FIR and were examining the CCTV camera footage to identify the boy. The family members said the suspect boy is partially seen in the photographs clicked by wedding photographer.

The family said that bag contained shagun offered by the guests and jewellry of Saini’s wife and his daughter. The reception was that of Saini’s son Sahil. “I could have chosen Zirakpur farmhouses for the function, but opted for Chandigarh presuming it to be safe and convenient for guests,” Saini said.