Hyderabad: A beautician-turned-thief who targeted passengers in moving trains and on railway stations has been nabbed in a Joint Operation by the Railway Police and Railway Protection Force at Secunderabad on Monday.
Murugesan Devi, 45, who targeted passengers by picking pockets, was involved in as many as 11 offences in five months. Police recovered a mobile phone and 770 gram gold jewellery, worth Rs 25.44 lakh from her possession. Devi’s husband Murugesan is an auto driver, while her daughter works for an MNC and her son is in college.
Superintendent of Secunderabad railway police G. Ashok Kumar said that the woman had confessed to the eleven offences, was produced before court and sent to remand.
Though Devi claimed that she was into cloth business, inquiries revealed that she was a beautician who owned a beauty parlour at Secunderabad and was residing in a posh rented flat at West Marredpally. A year ago, when her parlour ran into losses, she started looking out for ways to make easy money and started thieving.
Her modus operandi involved targeting passengers who were asleep or went to relieve themselves, and lift their bags. She would often travel with a valid ticket in trains while committing thefts. At platforms, she targeted women at crowded places like foot over bridges, escalators, staircases and steal valuables by opening their bags.
Police found that while running her parlour, she had earned well and got used to a luxurious lifestyle. The flat in which she is residing right now at West Marredpally, is 3BHK with a monthly rent of over Rs 10,000. She got used to this lavish lifestyle and to sustain this lifestyle, she took to stealing, the police said.
Prasanta Patnaik 
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