Thief Boarded 200 Flights For In-Flight Robberies

In a novel approach to robbery, a man boarded 200 flights last year, traveling thousands of kilometers within the country for nearly 100 days solely to execute robberies aboard airplanes. Reportedly, he stole valuables from several passengers in 2023.

The Delhi police cracked the case after a woman traveling from Hyderabad to Delhi reported last month that jewelry worth Rs 7 lakh was stolen from her handbag.

Another complaint was lodged by a man from the US who claimed that valuables worth Rs 20 lakh were stolen from his cabin bag.

Following these complaints, the police scrutinized CCTV footage from airports and apprehended Rajesh Kapoor from Paharganj in Delhi.

The accused disclosed to the police how he operated for a year in one of the most highly secured areas—the airports—and managed to evade capture.

Rajesh Kapoor targeted passengers with connecting flights. For instance, the woman traveling from Hyderabad to Delhi in April had a connecting Air India flight to the US from the IGI Airport in Delhi.

Similarly, the US passenger was en route to Frankfurt, Germany from Amritsar and had a connecting flight from Delhi.

Kapoor informed the police that he specifically targeted elderly and female passengers, observing their behavior closely at the airport.

He would then request the airline to change his seat so that he could sit next to the targeted passenger.

Once seated nearby, he would discreetly steal from them while pretending to adjust bags in the overhead section during the boarding process.

The police obtained Kapoor’s phone number from the airlines, although he had provided a fake number while booking his ticket.

He ensured that the phone number was registered under someone else’s name, leaving minimal evidence for the authorities.

The Delhi police also discovered that Rajesh owns ‘Ricky Deluxe,’ a guest house in Paharganj near the Delhi railway station. Additionally, he ran a money exchange business and owned a mobile repair shop in Delhi.

During their investigation, the police recovered a significant amount of stolen jewelry from Kapoor’s residence on the third floor of his guest house in Paharganj.

The police revealed that Rajesh Kapoor had previously targeted train passengers and experienced success. After being apprehended by the police, he remained silent for a while before shifting his focus to airports for his criminal activities.