Mumbai: In the 26/11 aftermath, the security had been beefed up at the Taj Mahal Palace – a seven-star luxury hotel. But despite the heightened security, in an alarming incident on January 20, a man walked into the hotel lobby and made off with `46,000, with security personnel entirely in the dark. The entire episode has been caught on the hotel’s CCTV camera.The video footage shows a man entering the Taj Palace, going straight to the cashier and asking for change. She asks him if he is a guest at the hotel and when he says he is not, she is seen turning down his request.
The man, however, is persistent and claims to be a citizen of the UAE. He continues to engage the cashier in conversation and is seen casually riffling through a bundle of Rs 2,000 notes that have been placed on the counter and flicks 23 of them. The cashier fails to realise what is happening and the man leaves the premises. The theft came to the management’s notice at the end of the day, when the cashier had to close the register and realised there was a deficit of Rs 46,000. The hotel authorities then scanned the CCTV camera footage and saw what had transpired.At the time of going to press, no response was received from the Taj public relations department. An official complaint has been filed with the Colaba police station and the police are on the lookout for the man. Abhishek Trimukhe, deputy commissioner of police (Zone 1), said, “The case has been lodged by Taj Mahal Palace staff and we are trying to find out about the accused. We don’t have much information about him right now. A case has been registered under Section 420 (cheating) of the Indian Penal Code 420.”
