Surat: What began as an atmosphere of prayer and devotion at a religious discourse in Vesu turned disturbing for seven women after their gold chains, collectively worth Rs 6.77 lakh, were stolen.Acting on a combination of human and technical intelligence, the Detection of Crime Branch (DCB) arrested three women on Tuesday night in connection with the thefts.The incident occurred on Dec 27 at Nandini-1 Apartment, where a Bhagwat Katha has been underway from Dec 26 to Jan 1. According to a complaint lodged with Vesu police by society resident Dropadi Gurnani (58), she arrived at the venue around 3 pm and returned home around 7 pm, only to realise that her 22-gram gold chain, valued at Rs 1.25 lakh, was missing.Despite searching the pandal and the society premises, Gurnani and her family failed to locate the chain. During the search, they discovered that six other women attending the discourse had also lost their gold chains. The other victims were identified as Premalata Agrawal (62), Dropadi Kejriwal (71), Premlata Modi (65), Pushpadevi Agrawal (71), Jayashree Chevli (68) and Sumitradevi Agrawal (73), residents of the same apartment complex and nearby societies.Police inspector Jignesh Patel said the accused exploited the crowd gathered for the event. “While the women were engrossed in the discourse, the thieves took advantage of the situation to steal the gold chains,” he said..
