Thieves struck at the upscale Novotel hotel in Madhapur taking away Rs. 97,000 and a pair of diamond earrings belonging to a marriage party from Nepal a few hours before the wedding on Tuesday. The valuables kept in a safety locker in a hotel room were found missing by the guests, police said
The marriage party comprising over 100 people including family members, relatives and friends of Nepal MP Madhusudhan Agarwal checked into the hotel five days ago. The MP's daughter is marrying a Hyderabadi. His younger brother Amit Agarwal, whose wife is a Hyderabadi, was in a room on the sixth floor of the hotel.
Around noon, Amit Agarwal and his family members noticed that Rs. 70,000 and a pair of diamond earrings were stolen from the locker, which can be opened only with a code, the Madhapur Inspector, Srinath Reddy, said. Strangely, the thieves didn't touch other gold and diamond jewellery and Rs. 2.8 lakh kept in the locker.
In two other rooms occupied by the marriage party on the same floor, there were thefts of Rs. 20,000 and Rs. 7,000. Along with family members, relatives and friends of the MP, nearly 10 servants of his family were also in the hotel. Police suspect persons having access to the locker and those knowing the digital code were behind the theft in Mr. Amit Agarwal's room.
However, the money stolen in other rooms was left open in the room. “Apparently, persons going in and coming out of these two rooms stole the cash. We're verifying details of all the visitors and the hotel staff,” the Inspector said.
Interestingly, police found that the secret cameras on the sixth floor of the hotel didn't function on Tuesday. Inquiries suggested this was due to some technical problem and the possibility of the offenders tampering with it was ruled out, the police said.
