POKHARA, Dec 17: The police have arrested a woman on the charge of stealing jewelry and cash from elderly women by tricking them in many ways. According to the Kaski Police, Tika Shrestha, 34, of Modi Rural Municipality-6, Parbat, who currently lives in Pokhara Metropolitan Municipality-4 Ganesh Tole, was arrested with the stolen goods.
According to Inspector Gyan Bahadur Khadka, information officer for the District Police Office, Kaski, Shrestha was arrested last Wednesday. Shrestha had been stealing gold ornaments and cash in different places of Pokhara by going to the houses of elderly women when other family members were not around.
"We have arrested the culprit after receiving complaints that she stole ornaments worn on the necks and ears of the elderly women, and ornaments and cash kept in their rooms," Khadka said. It has also been revealed she exchanged real jewelry with fake ones. "It has been revealed that the theft was made under the pretext of cleaning the house," he said.
According to Police Inspector Khadka, so far nine people have lodged separate complaints with the police saying that the woman had stolen jewelry and cash by tricking old women in their families. All the elderly women who filed the complaints said that an unknown woman came to their house and stole their belongings under the pretext of cleaning the house. Among those who filed the complaint with the police, all women but two are above 70 years of age. Similarly, 90-year-old women have also filed complaints with the police about the theft.
“These incidents of theft occurred in a period of five months. These events are of different nature and occurred at different places. The old women were tricked and their belongings were stolen under different pretexts,” Khadka said. "It has been found that she would not enter the house if there were alert and active members inside, otherwise she would socialize with the elderly women and steal their money and jewelry," he said.
The woman had stolen property worth eight hundred thousand rupees from one person. The police have recovered a gold necklace, a ring and a pair of earrings from Shrestha, who has already been arrested. Similarly, ornaments like chains, bracelets, rings, which looked like gold, and mobile phones etc have also been found. The police also found the clothes she wore while stealing.
Shrestha was arrested by a special investigation team of police deployed from the District Police Office, Kaski, and Ward Police Office, Rambazar. According to the police, the Kaski District Court has remanded Shresthainto a five-day judicial custody to carry out the investigation.
The police have also asked anyone else cheated by the theft of the same nature to report the incident to the police. The police said that the public needed to be aware and alert to prevent this kind of theft.