By A jewellery shop in Tumakuru, around 60km north of Bengaluru, found itself the victim of an unusual theft after CCTV footage showed a rat making off with gold and diamond ornaments worth Rs 10 lakh.
Staff at Vishwas Jewellery noticed roughly 10 rings missing during a routine stock count and initially suspected theft, since there were no signs of forced entry at the shop.
Owner Vishwas said the team checked CCTV recordings and were surprised to spot a rat picking up a gold ring, which set off a search to trace where the rodent had gone.
The search led to the rat’s burrow, where staff dug up close to 10 rings, three gold chains and several diamond-studded ornaments, together weighing more than 50 grams and worth around Rs 10 lakh.
The recovery footage has since gone viral on social media, with users comparing the episode to a comedy film and joking about the rat’s apparent fondness for fine jewellery.
Reports of the incident made no mention of a police complaint, as the shop was able to recover the jewellery directly once the burrow was located.
Jewellery store owners across the region have reportedly begun reviewing pest control measures after the incident drew widespread attention on social media.
Videos of the CCTV footage have circulated widely on social media, with users comparing the incident to a scene from a comedy film and joking about the rat’s taste for fine jewellery.
Rats are known to drag small, shiny objects back to their burrows, a behaviour attributed to their instinct to hoard items alongside food, though jewellery theft on this scale is rarely documented on camera.
Tumakuru, located about 60km north of Bengaluru, is a district headquarters town in Karnataka known for its coconut trade and, more recently, its growing role as an industrial corridor near the state capital.
Photo by Nnr2025, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
