Man takes 200 flights in 110 days to steal jewellery worth millions from passengers

In a new style of theft, a man took 200 flights last year and travelled across the country to carry out robberies at airports for more than 100 days. 

The theft was busted by the Delhi Police after a woman, who was travelling from Hyderabad to Delhi, claimed that someone stole jewellery worth Rs 7 lakh (approx. $8381) from her handbag. 

Meanwhile, the police received another complaint from a man who reported a robbery of valuables worth Rs 20 lakh (approx $23,947) while on his way to Germany from Amritsar via a connecting flight from Delhi.

After scanning footage from airports for several hours, the police arrested the man identified as Rajesh Kapoor.

The police arrested Rajesh Kapoor from Delhi's Paharganj after police scanned CCTV footage from airports in Delhi, Hyderabad, and Amritsar. 

The police were then informed by the accused about how he executed the crimes for nearly a year at airports and managed to get away with stolen jewellery.

Deputy Commissioner of Delhi Police Usha Rangrani said that the man targeted passengers who boarded connecting flights.

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The senior police said that he generally made the elderly and women passengers his targets and observed their behaviour at the airport. 

The accused followed his targets and somehow tried to read the information printed on the baggage declaration slip to collect more details regarding the valuables kept inside the bag. 

The police said that the man used to generally interact with them at the boarding gate and before that, he used to observe the behaviour of his targets. Then, he generally asked the airline to change his seat and ensured that he was the passenger next to them, said the police.

Sometimes this happened just as a coincidence, however, he generally used to give a reason for changing his seat. 

The police added that the man, while sitting next to his target, would pretend to adjust the bags in the overhead section during which he would steal jewellery as well as other valuables. 

Rajesh is the owner of a guest house in Delhi's Paharganj called 'Ricky Deluxe', which is near the New Delhi Railway Station. 

The man used to live on the third floor of the guest house and had left the other floors for the customers. 

The police stated that he also had a money exchange business and was the owner of a mobile repair shop in Delhi.

The police recovered a large quantity of gold and silver jewellery from his house in Paharganj. However, he also said that he had sold some of the stolen jewellery to a jeweller named Sharad Jain in the Karol Bagh area.