I saw, I stole: Grocer arrested for stealing Karva Chauth puja thalis

A shop owner in Delhi was nabbed for stealing over a dozen decorative 'thali' hampers used in Karva Chauth, the religious festival where women fast for their husbands.

The man who owns a grocery shop confessed to police that he was unable to resist the beautifully decorated plates and flicked them when he saw them 'unattended' at the Sadar Bazar wholesale market.

The Delhi Police made the arrest based on the complaint filed by one Naresh Kumar Gupta, who alleged that his 20 sets of decorative Karva Chauth plates were stolen by an 'unidentified' person while he was returning after shopping from the crowded wholesale market.

On basis of a complaint, police arrested the thief within three hours.

The arrested person has been identified as Navneet Kumar Singh, a resident of Noida. He is a grocery shop owner, who disclosed to police during the investigation that he had come to purchase articles from Sadar Market. However, seeing the bag containing the decorative Karva Chauth gifts unattended, he stole it.

"After registering the complaint, ASI Chatar Singh along with Constable Sachin swung into action and checked the CCTV footage of the parking, and in the CCTV footage one person was visible stealing the sack of decorative Karva Chauth of the complainant," officials said. According to Delhi Police, 'Operation Vighat' has been launched in the area to keep a curb on the menace of pick-pocketing and street crime.

Under the system, the staff of Sadar Bazar Police Station has been motivated to identify and nab the active criminals in the area.

"On further checking, it was revealed that the accused person had also come on a bike. Dedicated efforts were made and a search was made on the basis of CCTV footage and bike details. Finally, after a search of two hours, the accused person was nabbed and the sack was recovered", officials added further.