Hyderabad police have arrested a 25-year-old woman for her alleged involvement in a series of house burglaries in which gold and silver ornaments, cash and a mobile phone worth approximately Rs 70 lakh were recovered, after investigators traced a pattern of break-ins at locked houses whose occupants were away.
The accused has been identified by police as Paga Jaya, a homemaker and resident of New Bharat Nagar in Uppal. She was apprehended by Uppal police and the Central Crime Station team near the LB Nagar route bus stop at Uppal X Roads at around 8 am on October 31, following a tip-off. Police said she was taken into custody after questioning in connection with a burglary reported at Uppal, and that she allegedly disclosed her involvement in that case and in other house burglaries.
The case that led to her arrest was reported by Gangam Bhaskar Reddy, who had locked his house and left with his family on October 26 to visit the Sri Mallanna Swamy Temple at Komuravelli. The following day, his tenant informed him that the lock on the northern side door of the house had been broken and the door was open. On inspecting the house, Reddy found that two cupboards, in the master bedroom and in the children's bedroom, had also been broken into.
Around 48 tulas of gold ornaments, 1.5 kilograms of silver articles and Rs 2 lakh in cash were found missing.
Based on Reddy's complaint, police registered a case, Crime Number 1579 of 2026, under Sections 331(4) and 305(a) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, which deal with house breaking and theft, and launched an investigation. CCTV footage from the area became a key part of that investigation. The footage showed a woman, dressed in a burqa with a backpack, entering Reddy's house and walking away after some time.
Police said the accused identified houses whose occupants were away, wore a burqa to conceal her identity, and used a hand cutter machine to break the locks of doors and cupboards before stealing gold and silver ornaments and cash.
Police suspect her involvement in five cases registered at Uppal, Medipally, Bhadradri Kothagudem II and Jagathgirigutta police stations. One report, citing police, put the number of thefts higher, at ten in 20 days, which suggests that the full extent of the alleged activity is still being mapped and that the number of linked cases could change as the investigation continues.
What is not in dispute in the police account is that the recovered property, including gold and silver ornaments, cash and an iPhone 17, was valued at approximately Rs 70 lakh.
According to police, the accused allegedly sold or pledged some of the stolen ornaments and used the money for her personal expenses. NDTV, citing a police related update, reported that her alleged motive was to finance a lavish lifestyle, and that she had secretly learned tricks to break into houses online without her husband's knowledge. The Siasat newspaper reported that she hails from Bhadradri Kothagudem district and is a college dropout.
These details remain part of the police case and have not yet been tested in court, and the accused must be presumed innocent until proven guilty.
The method described by police is notable for its planning. The accused allegedly watched for houses where the occupants were known to be away, a pattern that made festival and temple visits, family trips and other absences a point of vulnerability. She allegedly carried a cutting machine in a backpack, wore a burqa and gloves to avoid identification, and targeted locks on doors and cupboards.
CCTV footage, which showed her fully covered, was both a clue and a challenge for investigators, because it confirmed the method while making identification harder.
The arrest also highlights a practical problem for urban households. Locked houses are often assumed to be safe, especially in busy residential colonies, but a determined intruder with tools can defeat ordinary locks, and neighbours and tenants may not notice a break-in until the occupants return. In Reddy's case, it was his tenant who first noticed the broken lock and open door, a day after the family had left.
That delay is common in such cases, and it gives an intruder time to leave the area and, in some cases, to dispose of stolen property.
Police advice in such situations, repeated in similar cases, is straightforward. Residents who will be away for more than a day should inform a trusted neighbour or family member, arrange for someone to check the house, keep valuables in a bank locker rather than in bedroom cupboards where possible, and consider basic security measures such as sturdy locks, grills and, where feasible, CCTV cameras.
None of these steps can guarantee that a house will not be targeted, but they can make a break-in harder and increase the chance that it is noticed quickly.
The Uppal investigation is continuing. Police are working to establish the full extent of the alleged offences, to identify possible links to other burglary cases, and to trace what happened to the stolen ornaments that were allegedly sold or pledged. Recovering the full value of stolen property is often a slow process, because ornaments may have changed hands several times, and investigators must follow the trail through pawnbrokers and buyers.
For residents of Uppal and the surrounding areas, the arrest brings a measure of reassurance, but also a reminder. The burglaries were not confined to a single street or a single night, and the police suspect links to cases across several police station limits. That spread suggests that the accused, if the police case is proven, operated across a wider area than one neighbourhood, choosing targets where occupants were away and where entry could be gained quietly.
The case will now follow the ordinary legal course. The accused has been arrested under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita provisions for house breaking and theft, and the investigation will determine what charges are ultimately brought and what evidence is placed before a court.
Until then, the police account, including the recovery valued at Rs 70 lakh and the suspected links to five cases, stands as the official version of events, subject to the investigation that is still under way.
What the case does show, even at this early stage, is how quickly a pattern can emerge from a single complaint. A family returns from a temple visit to find cupboards broken open, a tenant notices a broken lock, CCTV captures a figure in a burqa with a backpack, and a tip-off leads police to an arrest at a bus stop. Each step, on its own, is small.
Together, they led to the recovery of gold, silver, cash and a phone worth lakhs, and to an arrest that police hope will close a series of burglaries that had unsettled households across Hyderabad.
(Reporting based on The Times of India, NDTV and The Siasat Daily.)