“The bag he was carrying contained jewellery worth Rs 15 lakh. He told us it vanished during the security checks at Karol Bagh Metro Station,” Dr G Ram Gopal Naik, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Metro), said Wednesday.

After the man’s complaint was registered through an e-FIR at the Raja Garden Metro Police Station, a special investigation team was formed. It was led by Inspector Mahesh Chandra, (in charge, Special Staff) and Tej Dutt Gaur, Station House Officer, under the supervision of Dhirendra Nath Sharma, Assistant Commissioner of Police (North Metro).

The team began their probe by reviewing CCTV footage from Karol Bagh Metro Station. After combing through the footage, the officers made a breakthrough. “The footage showed a woman, accompanied by a male accomplice, lifting the bag from the scanning machine,” DCP Naik said.

As the team tracked the suspects’ movements, the pair was seen boarding the Blue Line towards Noida Electronic City. The police found that as they reached Rajeev Chowk they switched metro lines. “They hopped onto a Yellow Line train heading towards Samaypur Badli,” the officer said.

Naik said that further scrutiny of the CCTV footage revealed that the suspects exited at Kashmere Gate Metro Station. With the help of technical surveillance and human intelligence, the team subsequently zeroed in on to one of the suspects. “On December 28, the female thief, later identified as Mannonit Dang, was traced to Rajender Nagar in Delhi and arrested from R Block,” the officer said.

During questioning, Dang, 30, a resident of Sarkola village in Jharkhand’s Tutikel district, told the police that her partner in crime was Salik Mahli, 29, who hails from the nearby Garai village in Gumla district, and they knew each other for the past two years. “She disclosed that he (Mahli) had fled to Ahmedabad shortly after the theft,” said Naik.

The Delhi Police tracked Mahli’s movements, and went to Ahmedabad after obtaining crucial intelligence. On December 30, the police arrested Mahli and obtained a transit remand from a court in Bawla, Ahmedabad. He was brought back to Delhi and placed into judicial custody.

“The stolen bag containing jewellery worth Rs. 15 lakh, along with other belongings, has been recovered from the accused,” said Naik, adding that both accused have been remanded in judicial custody.