Mumbai: How burqa clad trio filched gold worth Rs 3 lakh from jewellery store

The trio, pretending to be interested in buying jewellery, distracted Amit Jain, the owner of Pooja Jewellers. Illustrations/Uday Mohite

Three women dressed in burqas stole two gold bracelets valued at Rs 3 lakh from a jewellery store at Malwani in Malad on November 22 while pretending to be customers.

The burqa-clad perpetrators headed in different directions after leaving the shop to evade detection

The perpetrators - Sajida Bashir Ansari alias Annu, 45; Tahira Khurshid Ahmed Ansari, 35; and Mubasshira Mohammed Rizwan Ansari, 30 - had provided a fake mobile number and handed over Rs 1,000 to the shop owner as an advance payment for two bracelets they didn't intend to buy.

They had boarded an autorickshaw at JB Nagar, Andheri East, that dropped them off at Malwani. The cops eventually traced the vehicle

Following an extensive 12-day investigation, the Malwani police apprehended the accused from Malegaon on December 4. The stolen jewellery, valued at approximately Rs 3 lakh, was recovered during the arrest.

Footage of a CCTV camera in JB Nagar revealed that the trio had got down from a Swift car before getting into the rickshaw

According to police sources, the women targeted Pooja Jewellers Shop at plot number 20 in the New Collector Compound. Posing as customers interested in purchasing a gold bangle and necklace weighing five tolas, they distracted the shop owner, Amit Jain. Upon realising that two bangles were missing, Jain viewed CCTV footage and informed the cops.

A search led to the identification of the car's last owner, who revealed that it had been sold to a garage owner in Malegaon. The garage owner then sold it to another person. The last owner disclosed the identity of the man who drove the women to Mumbai

Under the guidance of DCP Ajay Kumar Bansal and senior police inspector Chimaji Adav, API Gokul Jagtap brought the accused to book with the help of his detection team, comprising Sajid Shaikh, Gyaneshwar Kale, Rakesh Shinde, Divesh More, Ganesh Shinde, Rupesh Kambli and Amruta Gosawi.

All three were detained and arrested on December 4. The interrogation revealed that the three women were habitual criminals who had executed similar thefts at numerous jewellery shops in and around the city

December 4
Day the arrests were made

CCTV footage of the accused inside the jewellery store at Malwani in Malad on November 22