Angul: A group of six women, along with a man, posed as customers and executed a well-planned theft of sarees worth Rs 7 lakh from the Boyanika showroom in Angul on Monday.
According to reports, the group arrived in a luxury Toyota Innova car and entered the store without raising suspicion. While a few women engaged the salesman by asking him to display various sarees, others in the group discreetly carried out the theft.
Taking advantage of the distraction, some of the women reportedly concealed as many as 25 pieces of high-value tissue pata sarees beneath the sarees they were already wearing. The act went unnoticed by the store staff at the time, allowing the group to leave the premises smoothly without any immediate suspicion.
The incident came to light later when the store conducted a routine stock check and discovered that 25 sarees were missing. This prompted the management to review the CCTV footage, which revealed the entire sequence of the theft carried out by the group. The footage clearly showed the accused women hiding the sarees and leaving the store.
“They arrived at the showroom in a Toyota Innova, which we have already shown to the police through CCTV footage. After entering, a few women engaged the store staff by asking them to show sarees in another section, effectively distracting them. As the salesman failed to sense their plan, some other women formed a human corridor and stole the sarees,” said store in-charge Satyabrata Behera.
Following the discovery, the Boyanika showroom authorities lodged a formal complaint at the Angul town police station. Based on the CCTV evidence, police have launched an investigation and are making efforts to identify and apprehend the accused.
The incident has raised concerns among local traders over the increasing use of innovative methods by criminals to carry out thefts in broad daylight.