Everyone appears busy at the store. The three shopkeepers are fending off queries and showing the jewellery pieces to the women. Outside, children, and people are going about their business in the pinched street. Inside, a woman, seated on the far left corner of the store, appears to assess the gold pieces and then quietly pops them into her mouth, shows a video.

The incident, which took place on Wednesday, was reported from Nalanda, 80 km from capital Patna, in Bihar.

A string with chillies and lemon, believed to ward off the evil eye, hangs from the store ceiling but appears to have had no effect.

The accused woman, her head covered with a bright red dupatta, goes about sampling the pieces before her in a red tray. She tries on a series of nose pins, shows the video, and then quickly pops them into her mouth, like filmgoers with their popcorn. She repeats the exercise some three times, shows the video.

When the shopkeeper counted the jewellery times, he found that the pieces were missing and started questioning the woman. She flatly denied.

After this the shopkeeper checked the security cameras and saw how the woman was swallowing the jewellery.

Upon checking the woman’s mouth, the shopkeeper recovered many gold ornaments.

The shopkeeper then took the accused woman, and her accomplice, a woman, to the police station.

As there was no written complaint and evidence against the women, the police let them go.