Fourth theft in 16 months: Dubai-Pune flyer robbed of ₹1.5 lakh cash at airport
The victim, Suyog Sapkal, 45, a businessman from Pimpri, lodged a complaint with the airport police stating that he had found the lock on his trolley bag broken upon collecting it from the luggage belt
In yet another incident of theft at Pune Airport, a passenger arriving from Dubai on a SpiceJet flight claimed that he was robbed of ₹1.5 lakh in cash which he had kept in a locked trolley bag. The incident took place early morning Friday and marks the fourth such instance in the past 16 months not to mention the third since December 2024.
The victim, Suyog Sapkal, 45, a businessman from Pimpri, lodged a complaint with the airport police stating that he had found the lock on his trolley bag broken upon collecting it from the luggage belt. And, he had found the cash, handed over to him by a friend in Dubai for investment purposes, missing.
Sapkal had checked in the bag after security scanning at Dubai Airport. He realised he had been robbed only upon retrieving the bag at Pune Airport.
A similar incident occurred on January 13 this year when another passenger, Prasanna Vijay Nahar, 42, from Nigdi, reported a theft of ₹1.8 lakh from his checked-in luggage after arriving from Delhi on an Air India flight.
Ajay Sankeshwari, in-charge of the airport police station, confirmed the incident and said, “We have asked the airport authorities for CCTV footage from the relevant time period. Though similar incidents have occurred in the past, no major breakthrough has been made so far. We are investigating the point at which the cash may have been stolen in each case.”
When contacted, Pune Airport director, Ajay Kumarm, told Hindustan Times that no such incident of theft had taken place at the airport. “We have shared the CCTV footage with the police. Five hundred cameras have been installed to maintain round-the-clock surveillance. We believe that the theft might have taken place where the flight originated. The entire area is safe and secure for passengers due to a very high degree of hi-tech surveillance,” he said.
A female passenger who went on a trip to Dubai with a friend was robbed while travelling from Dubai to Pune by a SpiceJet flight. The incident took place on September 8 between 1.30 am and 5 am. A case was lodged against an employee of SpiceJet at the Vimantal police station under sections 303 (3) and 324 (4) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS). The incident took place in September 2024. In January 2025, the airport police nabbed a 55-year-old woman for stealing a designer bag worth ₹10,000 from a store at Pune Airport. The incident took place in January 2025.
