Pramesh S Jain
The Subramanyanagar police on Monday arrested a 64-year-old retired teacher from Mysuru and recovered 78 grams of gold valuables and 12 grams of diamond bracelet worth ₹ eight lakh which she had stolen from a gold exhibition in the city.
The accused Zaheera Fathima,resident of Udayagiri used to live alone after the death of her husband and suffering from cardiac problem.
She had worked as teacher for few years in Gulf and returned to her native during Covid and jobless since then, the officer,said .
In order to eke out a living,she decided to steal gold valuables and sell it to make money.She would check the social media to find the gold exhibitions in Bengaluru and like and subscribe them to get notification.
After getting the invite,she would visit the exhibition as prospective customer which usually in star hotels and steal the valuables after diverting the attention of the staff .
Since she would dress up decently and aged people would not doubt her.Making use of this,Fathima the accused visited a hotel on Dr.Rajkumar Road in Subramanyanagar where the exhibition was held and stole ₹4.7 lakh worth diamond bracelet and a pair of gold bangles .
Based on the complaint filed by the manager of the gold shop,the police analysed the CCTV footage and studied her modus operandi to conclude that she is targeting only the exhibitions organized at hotels .
The team of police posing as staff and security set a watch at the star hotel on racecourse road where the jewellery exhibition was held .
As anticipated the accused visited the exhibition and caught red handed while she attempted to steal.
The accused initially refused to admit her previous crime but when confronted with the CCTV footage she confessed to the crime.
Based on her confession the police team recovered 12 gram diamond bracelet from her house and the rest of the valuables she had pawned in two gold shop in Mysuru.
The accused was produced before the court and remanded to judicial custody.
