Bengaluru: Police arrested a cab driver on Wednesday over a case of theft from the boot of the car of a city-based cultural luminary. The stolen items worth around Rs 23 lakh included a Rolex watch, a Bottega wallet, and diamond rings.The accused has been identified as Mohammed Mastan, 46, a resident of Mahalakshmi Layout.Deputy commissioner of police (Central) Shekhar H Tekkannavar said all the stolen items were recovered and further investigation was on.Police verified CCTV footage on the stretch of the road where the car belonging to Rukmini Vijaykumar, 42, a choreographer, Bharatanatyam dancer, and actor, was parked and found that a cab driver had stolen the items. Soon, he was tracked down.On May 11, Rukmini, a resident of Koramangala, had parked her car on Queens Road, with the luxury items in the boot. She then went for a walk in Cubbon Park around 8 am. When she returned about an hour later and checked the boot, much to her shock, the valuables were all missing, along with her AirPods.Between 9.15 am and 9.45 am, when she checked the location of her AirPods on her mobile phone, she found their coordinates on St Mark’s Road, but couldn’t locate those upon reaching there.Later in the afternoon, she filed a complaint at Cubbon Park police station and a case was registered under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) section 303 (2) for theft.The accused, Mastan, told the police he had parked his car near the bus stop on Queens Road, when he saw Rukmini park her car just ahead of his vehicle.He saw her keep some items in the boot. In a hurry, she didn’t close the boot properly. Soo after Rukmini left, he opened the boot and stole the valuables.He told the police he didn’t realise the wristwatch alone was worth Rs 9 lakh, adding that his intention was to sell the diamond rings and make money.Rukmini was not available for comments when TOI contacted her.Vikash Kumar, the additional commissioner of police (West) advised citizens to be careful before leaving behind valuables in their vehicles.INSET:Nanny who stole gold from employer’s house lands behind barsTNNA 35-year-old nanny, who almost bluffed her way past the police, finally landed behind bars for stealing gold ornaments. Police zeroed in on her after they realised she had lied about her bedridden husband, saying it was he who was using her scooter.The accused, Varalakshmi alias Lakshmi of Vibhutipura, HAL, a mother of two, was arrested on Tuesday on charges of stealing around 120 gm of gold from the house of a techie couple in Bavasanagara where she used to work as a nanny.Saying that the accused was a tough nut to crack, police were about to give her the clean chit. It was only when they realised that her gearless scooter was not seen anywhere in the locality did the cops smell a rat, eventually leading to her arrest.The scooter was found parked in the basement of an apartment where Varalakshmi worked as a maid and all the stolen items were recovered from the storage compartment of the two-wheeler, along with a set of duplicate keys to her employer’s house.On May 11, while the couple were away, Varalakshmi sneaked in with the help of the duplicate keys and walked away with the gold, but not before a class 9 student in the opposite house had spotted her.