Suave, well dressed and a great conversationalist. These qualities of Jayesh Ravji Sejpal, an inter-state wanted burglar and a confidence trickster, helped him gain the trust of his victims, including hotel staff, before robbing them of their valuables kept in their rooms.
The Hyderabad city police on Tuesday said that they apprehended Sejpal (46), a resident of Jamnagar of Gujarat. The fact that he is a class X dropout did not not come in the way of his charming the victims.
According to the police, on March 6 the accused burgled room number 312 in Park Hyatt Hotel, Banjara Hills. Investigations revealed that he had done a recce of the uptown hotel on two consecutive days – March 5 and March 6.
Pretending to be a relative of a recently-married couple living in the room, the accused began a conversation with staff at the reception and sought to know whether its occupants had checked out. The unsuspecting staff divulged the name of the occupants and also said that they had not left.
On March 6, the accused waited in the lobby for the couple to leave. Once he saw them exit the building, he managed to reach the third floor.
From there, he called the reception and, impersonating the occupant of room number 312, said that he had lost his room access card. Since he had found out the name of the occupants a day before, he identified himself with the name and obtained a duplicate access card.
After gaining entry into the room, he broke open a suitcase containing jewellery and decamped with it in an autorickshaw. He stayed at a lodge in Nampally and when he saw his photo in newspapers, he took a bus and fled to Mumbai.
Speaking to the media, Hyderabad Police Commissioner Anjani Kumar ruled out any connivance of hotel staff. “It is not connivance, but negligence,” he clarified.
Mr. Kumar said he had also accessed the list of hotel guests who would be served breakfast. After identifying his potential victims, the accused used to impersonate them before the hotel staff and gain entry to their rooms and subsequently rob them.
The PD Act would soon be invoked against Sejpal who has committed at least 19 thefts in 13 states. He was previously arrested in five cases and is wanted in 11 more cases. He had been absconding for the last six years. Cops recovered stolen ornaments worth ₹ 30 lakh from his possession.
