Chennai: A family of three lifted the camera kit of one of the organisers of Scientific Training on Reptile Management (Storm) workshop conducted on Saturday at Chennai Snake Park, Guindy.
Showkath Jamal of Bay of Life Surf School who lost the bag had put out multiple images of the family picking up the kit, and their close-ups on his FB page seeking netizens to help him identify the culprits so that he can reclaim the camera.
He, along with members of Klinga Centre for Rainforest Ecology (KCRE) and Snake Park was busy with the workshop when he left the bag unattended in a hall for a few minutes.
A perusal at the CCTV footage sourced from the Snake Park showed a trio including a girl child, leaving with his full-kit camera with its macro, zoom and tele-lenses worth Rs 1.2 lakh, in a camera kit, six seconds before Showkath arrived at the spot looking for his bag.
Before lifting the bag, the girl child points out to the unattended bag, and the man accompanying her was seen checking the contents of the bag. He then quickly left the place with the bag, along with the woman and child. The trio made their exit swiftly before Showkath could get on their trail.
“It's just a matter of few minutes. I had to make some arrangements. We all rushed out of the hall, leaving the kit behind. We returned to find the bag missing. Since I did not want to disrupt the workshop, I just get on with the workshop and completed it after a quick search on the campus. I went back to Snake Park on Sunday and downloaded the footage, which helped me identify the culprits."
The video grab showcased that I was only six seconds late. By then the trio had left with the bag. I've posted the screen grabs of the 'family' in my FB page with my contact number hoping to get my camera back", Showkath told
DC. He added that he would be lodging a formal complaint with the city police.
