Housemaid, who replaced stolen gold chains with fakes, arrested

Bengaluru, Nov 3: A 28-year-old maid was arrested by the Koramangala police on charges of stealing gold chains from her employer’s house and replacing them with imitation fakes. The thefts of the three chains came to light when her employer, a software engineer, was asked by her friends why she was wearing fakes when she had bought original jewellery.

Shanti Ravi, a resident of Shivajinagar, was arrested following a complaint filed by Devaki, a resident of Koramangala III Stage. In her complaint, Devaki stated the gold chains she had bought had been replaced with fakes.

Police suspected the thefts to be the handiwork of an insider and summoned Shanti for questioning. Sleuths found she had been arrested in two other theft cases registered in Pulakeshinagar and Shivajinagar stations. After obtaining bail, she began working for Devaki. During interrogation, Shanti had first denied the charges, but when confronted with the other cases, police say she confessed to the crimes.

Police said Shanti meticulously searched jewellery shops for exact gold-plated replicas of the chains Devaki had. She studied the designs and measured the lengths so as to evade detection. Armed with an exact fake, she would steal the original and replace it with a fake.

Devaki told police she never realised the chains she wore were fake until her friends pointed it out to her during Varamahalakshmi celebrations.

“I had gone to my friend’s house in Adugodi and she chided me for wearing a fake chain,” Devaki told police. “Ashamed, I returned home and wore another one. I was puzzled how the chain turned to a fake. A few weeks later, another friend held my chain and asked me why I was wearing a fake one? I was shocked. I sensed something was wrong at home and inspected a third gold chain, which also was a fake.”