13 January,2009 12:00 PM IST | | Surender Sharma
In a shocking incident that belies all official claims about the Indira Gandhi International Airport being safe, a British tourist of Indian origin has alleged that she was robbed of Rs 1.5 lakh from inside the domestic arrival lounge.
What's worse is that the surveillance cameras keeping an eye on the area were not functioning during the time of the incident.
The victim, Dr Pratva Singh, said that she had arrived in Delhi from Goa on a SpiceJet flight (254) on January 5 at 5 pm. Her handbag which allegedly contained the booty, was stolen from inside the well-guarded arrival lounge at the domestic terminal. "I was waiting for my luggage to arrive at conveyor belt No 3 at the arrival lounge. I put my handbag on an empty trolley and bent to pick my luggage up. The next minute, when I reached for my handbag, it was gone," Singh said, in an FIR lodged at the Palam Airport police station. The thieves got away with valuables worth Rs 1,58,650 and important documents.
"The victim was carrying Rs 58,6500 in cash, a UK passport, credit cards, jewellery worth a lakh, a Nokia mobile phone, a driving licence, train tickets for further travel inside India," said a senior police official.
Interestingly, movement in this area is restricted and nobody is allowed in except passengers and airport and airline staff. The area is also under the surveillance of CCTVs. But the cameras were out-of-order that day.
"We had asked the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), which guards the airport, to provide us the footage of that evening from their cameras. However, they told us that the CCTV cable got disconnected on that day due to construction activity. So, the security cameras were not functioning that evening," said the cop, requesting anonymity.
The airport operator, Delhi International Airport, which is responsible for the maintenance of the security equipment, was not available for comments.
