Theft, tracing of clues, search for culprit, crackdown and retrieval of stolen property. An incident last week had all the ingredients of a whodunit, except that the item stolen was a pot of a leafy palm tree.
Smita Piplai of BE Block noticed one of her three potted plants kept at the edge of her driveway missing on August 25. Broken pieces of the pot and soil were lying scattered. “It is true that the gate is rather low but it was locked. So it was unimaginable that the plant could go missing,” she said.
The house had a CCTV camera at the gate. A scan of the footage revealed a well-dressed man in a cycle park his mount by the gate, bend over and stretch till he could grab the plant. And then off he went carrying his loot, albeit minus the pot which did not survive the heist.
The lady posted the incident along with the footage in her block WhatsApp group, which included an officer of the Bidhhannagar North police station.
A week later, her doorbell rang to reveal a man carrying her tree in a new pot, with his wife in tow. “He said he was a resident of AE Block. He had renovated his house and thought my plant would suit a corner of his room. He also described how well-off he was!” The thana, it appeared, had given him a call, causing him to scurry to save his reputation.
The Telegraph Salt Lake asked the investigating officer if this was the most bizarre item he had recovered. “I had probed the theft of a bathroom mug once,” the cop responded.