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Police women nab jewel-thief in covert operation

Last Updated 22 November 2018, 08:23 IST

In a covert operation spanning nearly a month, a special team of five women constables nabbed a middle-aged woman for snatching gold chains and other valuables from children at the Banashankari temple.

The all-women team, including an expectant mother, arrested M Uma alias Yellamma (45), a native of Gadag district, and a resident of Nagarbhavi.

"Every Friday and Tuesday — normally the busy days at Banashankari temple — there were complaints from devotees over lost jewelry and valuables. To keep watch, and nab the culprit, a special team was formed with five women constables from our station. Usha, Veena, Shrujana, Ashwin and a pregnant Shruthi were deployed at the temple in civil clothing," Kumaraswamy Layout inspector MV Guruprasad told DH.

The team visited the temple regularly and kept a close watch. All five were deployed at strategic locations to zero in on the accused.

As the team was waiting at the temple on Tuesday, Uma came, stood in a queue, and took one child from her mother, on the pretext of helping. Then, she took the child to a corner and removed her gold chain. At this point the police women swung into action and caught her red handed.

As Uma was brought to the station for questioning, she created a scene and claimed that she was not well. So she was taken to a hospital, where the doctor after detailed examination declared that she was fine. She was brought back to the police station thereafter. Though initially she refused to confess, as the police showed her the CCTV footage from the temple, she admitted that she did snatch eight gold chains, all from children.

Preliminary investigation revealed that Uma was staying with her husband Ravi Kumar who was running a steel wardrobe manufacturing unit. After he incurred a huge loss, he left Uma.

Uma was once arrested by Thyagaraja Nagar police and remanded to judicial custody, after which she was released on bail. She used to visit Victoria and KIMS hospital premises to sell stolen valuables to passers-by claiming that she was in urgent need of money for her son's surgery.

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(Published 21 November 2018, 17:10 IST)

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