Bengaluru: Woman cons friend, jewellery worth Rs 7 lakh recovered

Bengaluru: The Malleswaram police have arrested a 28-year-old woman, who had conned her friend and managed to rob 280 gm of gold from her. The accused, who had asked her boyfriend to steal the gold jewellery and silver articles kept in a two wheeler and then to park the vehicle in a no parking zone, had accused the traffic police of towing away the scooter and stealing the valuables. 

The accused, Kaushalya, 35, a resident of Seegehalli in K.R. Puram, conned her friend Renuka, the police said. Her boyfriend Sudharshan, who helped her in the crime, is absconding and the police are on the lookout for him. 

The incident took place last Friday and the accused was arrested the next day after the police investigated the complaint filed by Renuka, who is also a resident of K.R. Puram.

Kaushalya, who was earlier working as a domestic help in Dubai, had returned to India six months ago, and had grown close to Kaushalya over the last one month. They visited each others’ houses frequently, and Kaushalya had come to know that Renuka had a good amount of gold and silver articles. 

On Friday, Renuka asked Kaushalya to accompany her to Syndicate Bank in Malleswaram, as she wanted to deposit gold and silver valuables in the bank safety locker.

“The two women went to Malleswaram on Renuka’s scooter and the valuables were kept in the under-seat storage. Before going to the bank, they went to a hotel, from where Kaushalya called her boyfriend and gave him instructions to steal the valuables. While leaving the hotel, Kaushalya left the key in the vehicle to help her boyfriend steal and took Renuka to a photo frame shop saying she had some work there. When they returned 15 minutes later, Kaushalya’s boyfriend had escaped with the scooter. Kaushalya told Renuka that traffic police would have taken the vehicle and they checked with Malleswaram and Sadashivanagar traffic police, who told them that the scooter was not towed away,” the police said. 

Later, the vehicle was found at a no-parking zone in Malleswaram 11th Cross, where Sudarshan had parked the vehicle and escaped with the valuables. The traffic police towed away the vehicle to the station. Meanwhile, Renuka filed a complaint with the Malleswaram law and order police about the theft of her scooter and valuables kept in it. She found that the traffic police had seized the vehicle, but Kaushalya alleged that the policemen had stolen the gold jewellery kept in the scooter. When the police started the investigation, they went through the CCTV footage near the hotel and saw Kaushalya leaving the key in the scooter intentionally. When she was interrogated, she confessed to the crime, the police said.

The police have recovered 257 gm of gold and 383 gm of silver worth Rs. 7.38 lakh from the Kaushalya.