Bride-to-be busted for jewellery heist at sister’s Vasai home; cops say fake beard disguise was inspired by a meme reel after Rs 30L share trading loss
CCTV grab of the accused woman with the bag of stolen jewellery at Vasai station
A Gujarat woman, set to get engaged the next day, was arrested for stealing jewellery worth Rs 50 lakh from her sister’s Vasai home. Police say she was inspired by a meme reel and disguised herself as a man with a fake beard after losing Rs 30 lakh in share trading and targeted the house while her sister was away.
The theft took place on Monday afternoon at Krishnkunj Apartment, Shastri Nagar, Vasai West. The complainant, a 66-year-old man, was alone when a supposed tenant arrived around 1.30 pm, claiming to be looking for a rental house.
CCTV footage of the accused disguised as a man with a fake beard and cap. Pics/By Special Arrangement
After chatting for 15 minutes, the “tenant” asked to use the washroom, then pointed out to leakage in the bathroom and lured the senior citizen inside, pushed the senior citizen further in and locked the door from the outside, and looted gold and silver jewellery from the cupboard before fleeing.
Neighbours freed the man after hearing his cries for help and discovered the theft. Manickpur police registered a case under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, and multiple teams — led by Police Commissioner Niket Kaushik — began investigating.
CIU officers spotted a suspicious bearded “man” in CCTV footage and tracked the disguise to Vasai station, where bags were stashed near the railway tracks. Shortly after, a woman retrieved them and boarded a train. CCTV from other stations showed her at Navsari station in Gujarat.
When relatives saw the footage, the complainant’s daughter-in-law identified the suspect — her own younger sister. The accused, 27, confessed after arrest and the stolen jewellery was recovered.
The accused woman at a railway station with the bag containing stolen jewellery; her face covered
During questioning, it emerged that she had suffered a loss of around Rs 30 lakh in trading. She had invested this amount using money obtained by pawning her mother’s jewellery, without informing any family members.
On Wednesday, her prospective in-laws were scheduled to visit for an arranged marriage proposal, and she was supposed to wear the jewellery her mother had set aside for her. However, since she had pawned the jewellery and could not retrieve it without repaying the money, she became anxious.
Her elder sister (the complainant’s daughter-in-law) had also come for the engagement ceremony, while her brother-in-law was away for work. The complainant (her sister’s father-in-law) was alone at home.
“Two months earlier, during a visit to Vasai, the accused had noticed the quantity and location of the jewellery in the house. Suddenly, the thought occurred to her that since her sister was in Navsari and her sister’s father-in-law was alone, she could go to Vasai and steal the jewellery,” an official said.
DCP (Crime) Sandeep Doiphode told mid-day that officials from the CIU traced and arrested the accused within 12 hours. “The accused woman has been booked and arrested,” he added.
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