A man took a unique approach to stealing by boarding 200 flights last year, traveling across the country for almost 100 days just to steal from passengers on airplanes. He reportedly stole valuable items from several passengers in 2023.
The Delhi police solved the case after a woman reported that jewelry worth Rs 7 lakh was stolen from her bag while traveling from Hyderabad to Delhi last month. Another passenger from the US also complained that valuables worth Rs 20 lakh were stolen from his bag.
After receiving these complaints, the police checked CCTV footage from airports and arrested Rajesh Kapoor from Paharganj in Delhi.
Kapoor told the police how he managed to steal for a year in one of the most secure areas—the airports—without getting caught. He targeted passengers with connecting flights, especially elderly and female travelers.
He would ask the airline to change his seat so he could sit next to the passenger he wanted to steal from. Then, during the boarding process, he would discreetly steal from them while pretending to adjust bags in the overhead compartment.
Kapoor provided a fake phone number while booking his ticket and made sure it was registered under someone else’s name, leaving little evidence for the police.
The police also found out that Kapoor owns a guest house called ‘Ricky Deluxe’ near the Delhi railway station and runs a money exchange business and a mobile repair shop in Delhi. They recovered a lot of stolen jewelry from his residence during the investigation.
They also found out that Kapoor used to steal from train passengers before shifting his focus to airports after being caught by the police.