Vanishing trick: Rs 50 lakh jewellery stolen as it goes through Metro scanner

A Haryana-based jeweller’s bag containing diamond jewellery worth Rs 50 lakh was allegedly stolen from a baggage scanning machine at Chandini Chowk Metro station in central Delhi on Tuesday.

Police have collected CCTV footage from the station to ascertain the sequence of events.

“It captured a person lifting the bag from the exit side of the machine,” a police officer said.

The victim, 42-year-old Ravinder Soni, a resident of Haryana’s Yamuna Nagar district, was being frisked when the incident took place at around 6 pm.

Recalling the incident, Soni said he came to the capital three days ago to buy jewellery.

“Once in a while, I go to Delhi to buy jewellery as the prices are low, enabling me to fetch better margins on their sale in my hometown. Since the distance between Yamuna Nagar and Delhi is not that much and the two cities are well connected, it is always a good bargain,” he said.

On Tuesday, Soni purchased jewellery from different shops in central Delhi after which he headed towards nearby Chandni Chowk Metro station.

“I reached the Metro station around 6 pm and from there I bought a token for Kashmere Gate Metro station as I had to take a bus back to Haryana from the Inter State Bus Terminal. I was carrying two bags, a laptop bag and the other made of cloth, and the jewellery I had purchased,” he said.

“After buying my token, I placed the bags on the conveyer belt of the machine and entered through the door framed metal detectors to get myself frisked,” he added.
After being frisked, when he went near the machine he was shocked to see one of his bags, the one with the jewellery, missing and immediately alerted the security personnel.

However, the person who allegedly lifted the bag had boarded a Metro by then.
A case was subsequently registered with Kashmere Gate Metro police station and investigators showed Soni the footage where he identified his bag.

“I saw a man of around 20 years of age lifting it from the baggage counter and heading towards the platform,” Soni said.

According to police, they have not identified the accused.