Chandigarh: A 43-year-old woman has been apprehended by the police for defrauding the owner of a jewelry store in Sector-17 of gold ornaments valued at Rs.25 lakh. The woman, identified as Kanwaljit Kaur from Batala, Punjab, was taken into custody after being accused of leaving the store with the ornaments under the guise of showing them to her daughter and promising payment within 30 minutes. Law enforcement authorities managed to recover gold items weighing 324 grams from her possession. According to the complainant, Bikash Chander of Bikash Diamonds, Kanwaljit had been a regular customer at his shop for the past 18 months and had a history of timely payments. However, on March 12, she allegedly absconded with the jewelry, exploiting the trust placed in her. Kanwaljit, who claimed to hold a senior position in the Punjab government and reside in a government residence in Sector 16, was known to frequent the store in luxury vehicles. A case was registered against her under Sections 420 (cheating) and 406 (criminal breach of trust) of the Indian Penal Code on April 29 at the Sector-17 police station. Following her arrest on Wednesday, Kanwaljit confessed during interrogation that she had pawned all the stolen gold items with Jewel House. She was presented before the court on Friday and subsequently remanded to judicial custody.
