Mumbai: 23-year-old woman arrested for stealing valuables from retired teacher's flat

MUMBAI: Police on Tuesday arrested a 23-year-old science graduate for allegedly stealing cash, mobiles and gold ornaments worth Rs 1.63 lakh from the flat of a retired school teacher in Mumbai's Andheri area.After her arrest, she claimed that she was forced to take up crime as she was left without any earnings and students stopped coming to her dance class due to the Covid-19 lockdown. Accused arrested after the police scanned videos from at least 100 closed circuit television cameras and finally zeroed in on her at a paying guest (PG) accommodation at Mhada building in Four Bungalows. Police recovered the gold ornaments and the two mobiles from her possession.After committing the crime, the accused took precautions like covering her face with a mask and even changed at least three auto-rickshaws to travel a distance of 8km from Andheri (East) to her Versova PG facility. “Shecommitted the theft within three hours after she walked into the flat of A Rodrigues (62), at around 9am on May 29. She learnt that the victim stays alone and gained her trust with her command over English language,” said a police officer.“She confessed that her earlier attempt to commit a similar offence failed on May 23. She succeeded in her second attempt. We followed the CCTV footages and found her changing auto rickshaws. It took us 12 days to locate her whereabouts,” said the officer.She hailed from Bihar and migrated to Mumbai three years ago and stayed in PG Accommodation. Her brother is employed at Ranchi while her father is a small-time businessman.