Mumbai: The year did not end on a cheery note for a bunch of ex-advertising professionals who were making a living by attending press conferences to steal laptops and cameras.
On Wednesday, the Sahar police nabbed them after they stole a laptop from a press conference held at Hotel Hyatt Regency in Sahar eight days ago. Their luck ran out when the police got hold of the footage captured by the CCTV cameras installed at the venue.
Mukesh Maganlal Kothari, 50, and Dhiren Bhawanji Cheda, 37, along with another accused who has not been arrested so far, had
gone to the conference which started at 7.30pm at the
Hyatt, said senior police inspector Dilip Patil of the Sahar police station.
The press conference was called by Sony Entertainment Limited, and the event was being handled by Genesis Burson Mars Peller Private Limited. The trio entered the event posing as advertising professionals. Uma Setumadhavan, 23, of Genesis was coordinating the event and had brought her Samsung laptop along. “At around 11.30pm, when the conference ended, Setumadhavan left for dinner, leaving her laptop in her bag,” said Patil.
The accused made the most of the opportunity and made off with it. When Setumadhavan returned and found the laptop missing, she raised an alert. She also lodged a complaint with the Sahar police. As the hotel has CCTVs installed, the police went through the recordings, zeroed in on the accused, and later arrested them.
“While the two have been booked under sections 34 (common intention) and 380 (theft in a dwelling), one of them is still at large. The duo has been remanded in judicial custody,” he said.
Though sources at Sahar police station say the trio has been involved in similar cases at other hotels in the vicinity, Patil said the angle is still under investigation.
