When looks can steal: Woman transforms self to work in posh homes, robs elderly people

Sheetal Upadhyay with and without make-up

A make-up enthusiast who would transform her appearance, get work as a housemaid in elite homes and decamp with the residents' valuables, has landed in the police net. The woman often passed by Versova police investigators, who failed to identify her owing to her make-up and impeccable dressing sense.

The woman has been identified as Sheetal Arun Upadhyay, 32. She was held in Kurla West after a three-month search. She used to clean out people's belongings while they slept after having lunch. An officer attached to Versova police station told mid-day that Shubhda Rajesh Gadgil, 53, had registered an FIR against Upadhyay in November last year after she noticed gold jewellery weighing around 23 gram is missing from her home. "The complainant's mother is 80 years old. The incident took place in the afternoon when the elderly woman was asleep after lunch," the officer said.

Upadhyay's modus operandi
Upadhyay would do a recce of areas not under CCTV surveillance. "She would approach posh housing societies in western suburbs and would prefer working in houses that have elderly people as they often go to sleep after having lunch," the officer added.

"Upadhyay started working at the elderly woman's house as a maid. In November, when the woman was asleep in the afternoon, Upadhyay noticed that the door of her room was open. She sneaked in and made away with gold jewellery and did not return to work the next day," the officer added.

Detection officer Ganpat Dhaygude and his team started probing the case but the woman was untraceable. "We started scanning the CCTV footage of nearby areas but the woman was not seen anywhere as the area was dimly lit," the officer added. After scanning the footage of 35 CCTV cameras, the police traced the woman to Bail Bazaar area of Kurla. She was brought in for investigation to Versova police station.

"Upadhyay told us that she likes to be well dressed and take care of her skin. She would spend large amounts of stolen money in expensive beauty parlours in western suburbs. Since she was dressed in ethnic and western outfits with loud make-up most of the time, it took us time to recognise her. But human intelligence and technical evidence helped trace her," the officer added.

Upadhyay is an accused in another theft case registered at Goregaon police station last year. Talking further about Upadhyay, the officer said, "She would go into hibernation mode for nearly six months after committing one offence and she would never visit an area already targeted by a theft."

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Weight in tolas of gold that Sheetal has stolen