IGIA: Jewellery theft during security check alleged

New Delhi: More than two months after an Australian woman got an FIR lodged alleging that her jewellery was stolen from her handbag during an X-ray check at the airport here, a US-based Indian citizen has made a similar complaint to the Delhi Police.

Interestingly, sources in the Delhi Police and the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) said that in both cases CCTV footage does not show anyone interfering with the women's belongings or any suspicious movement of anyone including security personnel present on duty. In the latest case, Swathi Reddy, who flew from Virginia and landed at the Indira Gandhi International Airport here on March 13, went through the immigration check and proceeded to take the connecting flight. According to her, while passing through the security check, her luggage with a jewellery box came up in the security scanner and went to the other side where bags are automatically diverted for questionable items while she herself was at the enclosed screening area. "The security man who I still remember vividly asked me questions about my whereabouts and the items in my bag.

He asked me to take out my charger, headphones and mouse from the bag. He mentioned that there were keys and jewellery in the bag (during its scanning) to which I confirmed," Reddy said in her police complaint. She added, "After removing the electronic items, he said he needed to run the bag through the scanner again. He did not ask me to take out the jewellery.

He started talking with me after that, asking me questions like where I was from and where I was going." Reddy said that she took her bag from the belt and left the area. She came to know about the theft when she reached home but she said that during the whole journey, her bag remained with her.

"The bag was out of my sight only twice. Once during X-Ray screening and the second time when I kept it in the overhead storage bin in the aircraft. I don't think the theft can take place in the aircraft when I was aware of every single movement of people around me," Reddy told PTI over phone from Virginia.