Nagpur: In a chilling case of life imitating television crime dramas, a 28-year-old woman attempted to play out a “Crime Patrol” episode in real life, only to land in police custody within hours.
The accused, identified as Sapna Mayur Mendhe, a resident of Shivangaon Punarvasan Colony, allegedly threatened a senior citizen with a knife and snatched her gold mangalsutra worth thousands while she was out for her evening stroll in Beltarodi around 6.30 pm on Friday.
The victim, 65-year-old Suman Krishnaji Jaronde, was left shaken as Mendhe, her face concealed, whipped out the knife and forced her to part with the ornament before fleeing the spot. Terrified, Jaronde kept the ordeal to herself that night. It was only the next morning, after confiding in her son, that she approached the police and lodged a complaint.
Gold Rate
18 Aug 2025
What followed was swift police action. A team led by Senior PI Mukund Kawade, with API Rameshwar Kandure and PSI Shirish Salgar along with Ravikant Bhadane, Sukanya Chaudhary and Sunil Dhoke, swung into action. With little description available, since the accused had covered her face and the victim was too frightened to provide details, investigators relied heavily on CCTV footage from nearby areas. After hours of scanning visuals and correlating the timeline of the crime, police zeroed in on Mendhe.
She was picked up within three hours of the complaint being registered on Saturday, and the stolen mangalsutra was promptly recovered. However, investigators faced another hurdle, Mendhe refused to admit to the crime, despite the recovery of the ornament. It took nearly six hours of sustained interrogation before she finally cracked, confessing that she had drawn inspiration from episodes of “Crime Patrol” to stage the heist.
Police officials admitted they were stunned at her brazenness. “It was surprising to learn that she was trying to replicate what she had seen on television. But her illusion of outsmarting the system lasted less than a day,” an officer said.
The case serves as a stark reminder of how crime-inspired entertainment can sometimes spill into real life, with disastrous consequences for the imitators.
