Pune: A 71-year-old man was arrested on the charge of stealing a woman’s bag containing gold jewellery worth Rs5.25 lakh at Narayangaon bus stand on Nov 9.After checking CCTV footage, the police found that the accused had boarded a Nashik-bound bus. A Narayangaon police team led by inspector Pavin Sampange tracked him down at Ale Phata and recovered the entire stolen booty. The jewellery was returned to the woman (64) on Thursday.Police sub-inspector J I Patil of Narayangaon police said on Monday the woman, a resident of Junnar, her husband and their two granddaughters returned from Ahilyanagar and got off at the Narayangaon MSRTC bus stand. They were waiting for another bus to take them home. “The woman had told her granddaughter to watch one of the five bags they were carrying with them. The accused overheard their conversation. He picked up the bag containing gold jewellery and the woman’s cellphone and fled.”When the woman realised the bag was missing, she alerted the policemen at the bus stand. “Our team reached the stand and checked the CCTV footage. We found one person stealing the bag and boarding a Nashik-bound bus. We caught the bus at Ale Phata, but the accused wasn’t in it,” Patil said.“Luckily, the woman’s cellphone was in the same bag. We traced the cellphone and took the accused into custody from Ale Phata and recovered the stolen jewellery,” Patil said.During questioning, the elderly man revealed he had stolen the bag because he needed money. He also told the police that, to avoid being traced, he got off at Ale Phata instead of travelling to Junnar, where he stays at his sister’s house. “The accused has an old theft case registered against him. We have issued a notice to him,” Patil added.
