Pune woman nabbed for stealing from open homes in Mumbai

Accused Chikoobai Kale

The Kandivli police have arrested a 50-year-old woman from Pune for allegedly committing thefts in houses while pretending to be a domestic help. Probe has revealed that accused Chikoobai Kale would roam in housing societies pretending to look for work and steal valuables from flats which would have their main doors open.

In a similar incident that took place in July, Kale entered the flat of a senior citizen Urvashi Shah, 63, at a housing society on Shantilal Modi Road in Kandivli West and stole valuables. Police officers said that the victim's husband had gone to the temple and she was taking a bath with the main door open. Suddenly she heard some noise and rushed out to find her cupboard open. When she spotted the woman fleeing, she raised an alarm and alerted the neighbours who called the police. On checking, she found jewellery worth Rs 1.40 lakh missing from her cupboard.

The cops started investigating the case and checked over a dozen CCTV footage, through which they found out that she boarded a train from Kandivli station. A police officer said that details of previous cases revealed that she was a habitual offender and had been arrested by the Vakola and Shivaji Park police in similar cases.

The officer said, "We gathered information about her from the Vakola police station, including her resident address in Pune, and arrested her from her house and brought her to Mumbai last week."

"Kale takes a train from Pune to come to Mumbai and after reaching she spends the night on the pavement. During the day she roams in housing societies pretending to be a domestic help. She looks for houses which have their main doors open and steals anything that she can lay her hands on. If she is caught entering a house, she pretends to have lost her way," the officer added. The cops are now trying to find out how many more thefts she has committed in the city and whether anyone else is involved.