Bengaluru: A 42-year-old freelance photographer was arrested for allegedly stealing gold ornaments worth Rs 55 lakh from a software engineer’s house using a spare key left in a shoe rack outside.The accused, Kiran, a resident of Varthur Kodi, used to run a photo studio that shut down due to financial losses and later worked as an event photographer. According to police, the software engineer left home at Nagondanahalli on Feb 11 after locking the door and keeping the key in the rack for his children returning from school. When he came back in the evening, he found the door open and 348 grams of gold ornaments missing from a cupboard.Police checked CCTV footage, traced Kiran near Varthur Kodi and arrested him on Feb 13. He confessed to have noticed the spare key kept in the rack while looking for a house in the building. Police found the stolen jewellery in his residence.Police commissioner Seemant Kumar Singh said residents should not leave house keys in shoe racks, flowerpots or common passages, warning that such practices make homes vulnerable to theft.
