She's rich and she shoplifts

23 September,2010 07:35 AM IST |   |  Mohit Sharma

50-year-old owns property in old Delhi and travels in luxury cars


50-year-old owns property in old Delhi and travels in luxury cars

She had the perfect disguise for a thief. The way she used to carry herself projected her as someone beyond reproach. But a CCTV camera proved to be her undoing.



Sunita Sharma, 50, owns a guest house in south Delhi and has an enviable lifestyle. But perhaps that was not enough for her. Sharma used to frequent malls to target shoppers. She would enter the outlets at the mall posing as customer and would disappear with bags of other customers whenever she got a chance.

"She was caught by the cops after they scrutinised the CCTV footage of Select City Walk mall in Saket where she was found lifting the hand bag of a customer," a police officers stated.

"We had been receiving complaints of thefts from Select City Walk mall and we asked the shop owners to mobilise their CCTVs. On Monday, we caught Sharma stealing a bag from one of the showrooms and apprehended her," the cops said.

Interrogations have revealed that she is part of a gang which is active in metros like Delhi and Mumbai for the last few years. "We are trying to find more people who are associated with her. Meanwhile, she has been booked by the Saket cops for theft," the police officer said.

Sharma has also admitted to stealing the purse of the wife of an inspector general-rank officer from Select Citywalk Mall in January.

Vandana Bhatnagar, wife of Inspector General of the Central Industrial Security Force, Ajay Bhatnagar, had come shopping at the Mango showroom at the mall when her purse was lifted.

Sharma has also confessed to some more cases of theft in the mall. The police officers said she owns a 25-room guest house in old Delhi.

Hollywood connection

On December 12, 2001, Winona Ryder was arrested on shoplifting charges in Beverly Hills, California. She was accused of stealing $5,500 worth of designer clothes and accessories at a Saks Fifth Avenue department store.

During the trial, she was accused of using drugs without valid prescriptions. Ryder was convicted of grand theft and vandalism, but was acquitted on the third felony charge, burglary. In December 2002, she was sentenced to three years' probation, 480 hours of community service, $3,700 in fines, $6,355 in restitution to the Saks Fifth Avenue store, and ordered to attend psychological and drug counseling. After reviewing Ryder's probation report, Superior Court Judge Elden Fox noted that Ryder served 480 hours of community service and on June 18, 2004, the felonies were reduced to misdemeanors. Ryder remained on probation until December 2005.

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Shoplifter Saket Select City Walk mall CCTV footage rich woman