A 71-year-old jewellery store owner in Belagavi, Karnataka, has been taken into police custody after attempting to file a false report regarding a midnight heist at his own establishment. The man had initially claimed that thieves had broken into his shop and stolen gold ornaments worth millions of rupees. According to his account, he closed the store on the evening of July 16 and was alerted to an open door in the early hours of the following morning. However, his story quickly unraveled as investigators began noticing significant red flags in his timeline and the lack of evidence supporting a break-in.

The police investigation took a sharp turn when officers examined security footage. Although the owner initially insisted that the CCTV cameras were off due to power issues, they remained operational, capturing the entire ruse on camera. The footage showed the owner removing the gold himself before closing up for the night, while his accomplices merely staged a quick entry to create the illusion of a crime. Authorities eventually recovered the "stolen" jewelry hidden inside the owner's scooter. Police Commissioner Borase Gulabrao confirmed that a chargesheet is being filed against the owner for providing false information, and further investigations are underway to determine if he was involved in illegal moneylending activities.