Woman breaks into railway employee’s house, caught stealing cash & jewellery

A woman has been caught red-handed burgling a railway employee’s house, police said, in what is seen as a rare case. She suffers from health problems and lives with a woman and two children, and all of them work. It’s not clear why she had to steal.

Chitra K, of LIC Colony, Yeshwantpur, was busy digging into an almirah at Santosh Kumar’s house in Mohan Kumar Nagar, Yeshwantpur, on January 30 when her luck ran out.

Kumar, 28, who had locked the house and left for work at 8 am, returned at 1.25 pm for lunch. He was perplexed to find the main door open. He sneaked into the house and found a woman shuffling through the almirah.

She had already taken some jewellery and Rs 8,000 in cash, and kept them atop the refrigerator.

Kumar yelled at her and demanded to know who she was. She tried to play smart. She said she was looking to rent a house and someone had brought her here. She claimed that the person had gone upstairs.

Kumar fell into the trap and went to the upper floor. Just then, the woman started to flee.

Kumar, however, raised an alarm, drawing other residents, who managed to catch the woman.

Kumar checked the valuables kept atop the refrigerator and found a gold chain was missing. Confronted by Kumar and other residents, Chitra took them to the shoe stand where she had thrown the chain while fleeing.

The residents later called the police.

Kumar told DH: "I noticed a woman carrying a bunch of keys and stealing from the almirah. She had evidently opened the door with one of the keys. Had I not come for lunch, she would have taken it all."

Kumar is a mechanic at the Railway Coaching Depot in Yeshwantpur and lives alone.