Bengaluru: Jewel thief takes off with bride’s jewels worth Rs 3 lakh

Bengaluru: A wedding thief managed to go scot-free after the bride and her relatives refused to file a police complaint when a suitcase containing the bride’s jewellery and other valuables worth over Rs 3 lakh was stolen from the premises of a prominent hotel in Bengaluru where the bride’s relatives were put up. The reception was scheduled for April 16 evening, and the bride’s party with over 50 people arrived in the city from Chennai the same day.

The groom’s family had booked 30 rooms at Safina Plaza Hotel in the Commercial Street area for the bridal party, as the reception and wedding, on April 16 and 17, had been organised at Shams Convention Centre in Shivajinagar, which is close by. “The suitcase containing bride’s reception and wedding costumes, jewellery and other valuables, worth over Rs 3 lakh was stolen from the hotel premises,” said Irfan, a family member from the groom’s side.

“It was chaos at Safina Plaza after the bride’s party discovered that the suitcase had gone missing just before the reception. We pulled up the hotel employees and asked them to show us the CCTV footage to zero in on the culprit who had walked away with the suitcase. But the staff told us that the hotel has CCTV cameras, but none of them work. They claimed that the Digital Video Recorder that stores the CCTV footage had been sent for repairs,” Irfan told Deccan Chronicle.

“Angry bride’s family members asked the hotel staff to check everyone staying in the hotel. The staff went around opening the doors of all the rooms. We were shocked to see that the same keys that were used to open the doors on the second floor could be used on the third floor also,” said Irfan.

When heated arguments ensued, the hotel staff switched off the power supply to the rooms where the bride’s party was staying in and stopped the lift, asking the guests to leave the hotel premises. Commercial Street police were summoned to the spot, but they were of not much help as no CCTV footage was available, and the hotel employees and bridal party were throwing accusations against each other, he said.

“Thinking it as a bad omen for the newlyweds, and to avoid embarrassment, the bride’s relatives agreed for a compromise after the hotel staff offered to write off Rs 40,000 from the hotel room bills,” Irfan said.

The heavy-hearted guests then moved to another hotel near Bowring Hospital where they stayed for the wedding and reception programmes. A police officer from the Commercial Street police station confirmed the incident, but said, “None from the affected party came forward to lodge a formal complaint and they settled the issue among themselves.”