KOLKATA: The next time you go to a food court at a mall, keep an eye on your belongings. A gang has recently been detected stealing belongings of mall visitors while they were busy eating at food courts or window shopping.
The Watch section of the detective department has nabbed one person who has been involved in theft at all major malls.
“Bapi Ratan Bhattacharya (50), a resident of Jinjira Bazar near Maheshtala, was involved in several cases of lifting inside several malls of the city. His favourite hunting ground was a mall in Kasba. He has been arrested by the Watch Section on Wednesday,” said Joint CP (crime) Murlidhar Sharma.
During interrogation, Bhattacharya revealed that he would visit different malls on different days of the week. He claimed people let their guard down at the food court or when they are managing the kids. Once he spotted a potential victim at the food court, he would walk behind and lift the purse or bag. Visitors having food or shopping while keeping their purse or bags beside them were the easiest to target, he claimed.
On searching his residence, cops recovered four mobile phones. “We also recovered cash worth Rs5,000,” said Sharma.
