To hide his identity from airlines and the police, the accused made a deceptive idea by booking tickets under his late brother’s name.
According to Delhi Police, a 40-year-old man was arrested on May 13 for being accused of involvement in the theft of jewellery and other valuable assets from the handbags of his co-passengers on over 200 flights in a year. The accused was identified as Rajesh Kapoor, and according to the police, he took at least 200 flights and travelled for more than 110 days during the last year to commit this theft series. Usha Rangnani, the Deputy Commissioner of Police (IGI), told the media conference at the IGI airport that he was arrested from Paharganj, where he was keeping all the stolen jewellery. She also added that Sharad Jain, a 46-year-old man, and Karol Bagh admitted that the accused was planning to sell the stolen items to him.
The DCP, Usha Rangnani, stated that two separate cases of theft were reported from different flights in the last three months, and she also stated that a dedicated team from the IGI Airport was employed to catch the culprits. On April 11, a passenger lost her jewellery worth Rs 7 lakh while travelling from Hyderabad to Delhi, and on February 2, another theft was reported, where a passenger lost jewellery items worth Rs 20 lakh while travelling from Amritsar to Delhi. She also stated that the police checked the CCTV footage from Delhi and Amritsar airports during the probe and analysed the flight manifests. She added more that the police shortlisted a suspect who was present on both flights in which theft incidents were reported. The accused was caught after Kapoor’s original phone number was traced by technical surveillance.
The police stated that the suspect man confessed to his crime during interrogation and confirmed his involvement in five such cases, including the one in Hyderabad, and he also revealed that he spent most of the cash on online and offline gambling. The police have found that he has been involved in 11 cases of theft, gambling, and criminal breach of trust, out of which five were at airports. Another police officer said Kapoor used to target vulnerable passengers, particularly elderly women travelling internationally. He also added that, recognising the tendency of such passengers to carry valuables in their handbags, he strategically travelled on premium domestic flights, notably Air India and Vistara, bound for destinations like Delhi, Chandigarh, and Hyderabad.
