Ahmedabad showroom heist: Woman staffer caught on CCTV pocketing gold jewellery worth Rs 1.7 crore

AHMEDABAD: A jeweller in the city was left stunned after CCTV footage allegedly showed one of his employees quietly pocketing gold jewellery worth Rs 1.7 crore and walking out of the showroom.

The accused woman had been working at the store for nearly a year as a sales and marketing staffer. She allegedly hid chains, rings, and mangalsutras inside her clothes before disappearing, said police, who are now tracking the accused.

The complaint was filed by the 40-year-old showroom owner, a resident of Krishnanagar, with Nikol police on Tuesday. The accused had been working at the showroom in Nikol for the past 11 months, police said.

The jeweller told police he had been running the gold and silver jewellery showroom at Gravity Shopping Mall for the past two-and-a-half years and employed 19 staff members, including managers, sales executives, helpers, security personnel, and support staff.

He told police that he had gone home for lunch on Monday afternoon, leaving the showroom under the supervision of the manager and other employees.

He returned around 5pm, when a customer arrived to make a purchase. During the interaction, a staff member allegedly noticed that a gold ornament was missing from one of the trays but did not immediately alert the owner in front of the customer.

“Once the customer left, the employee informed me about the missing item. I realised that the accused, a resident of Nikol, was also missing from the showroom. The staff informed me that she had left around 4.30pm, claiming she had an emergency,” the jeweller told police.

Suspicion deepened after the showroom owner checked the CCTV footage. “I saw the accused removing gold ornaments from one of the cupboards and hiding them in the pockets of her pants and blazer. She then went to the second-floor storeroom, collected her bag and left the showroom,” he told police.

When staff later tried contacting her, her mobile phone was allegedly found switched off.

A stock verification conducted afterward reportedly revealed that gold chains, rings, mangalsutras, pendants, earrings, lockets and watches weighing around 1.212 kg were missing from the showroom. The stolen ornaments were collectively valued at around Rs 1.7 crore, the complaint stated.

Police have registered a case and launched a search for the accused.