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‘Thought they were pendrives’: Two men arrested for ‘stealing’ AI wearable devices from AI Summit
The co-founder of the start-up whose devices were stolen said he was happy they had been recovered.
AI Impact Summit at Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi on Tuesday. (EXPRESS PHOTO BY PRAVEEN KHANNA)
Two contractual employees have been arrested for allegedly stealing AI wearable devices belonging to Bengaluru-based firm NeoSapien from the venue of the AI Impact Summit on Monday (February 16), police said.
Police officers involved in the probe said the accused thought that the devices were pendrive, and thought they would be of use to them and stole them.
DCP (New Delhi) Devesh Mahla said, “The accused have been identified as Manish Nagar and Ashish Mahariya. They are contractual employees, hired to lay electrical wires and carry out videography at the event. The stolen devices have been recovered.”
Dhananjay Yadav, co-founder and CEO of NeoSapien, said he was happy that the police had recovered the wearables. Yadav told The Indian Express, “I am very happy that the Delhi Police acted swiftly, the DCP also met me today… I am grateful to the Delhi Police for finding my devices. Delhi has always been one of my favorite cities and it’s wonderful to be here again.”
NeoSapien advertises its pendant-like product as “India’s first AI-Native wearable that tracks conversations and analyses emotions”. The listed price of the NeoSapien Neo 1 wearable on the company’s web site is Rs 11,999.
On Monday, the co-founder of the wearable AI-powered device that claims to be the wearer’s “second brain”, had alleged that several of the machines were “stolen”.
“It was the first time the [AI] summit was being hosted in India, and I was really excited, both to showcase innovation and to back the government’s push to position India as a global AI hub. I believe India really deserved to host something like this,” Yadav had told The Indian Express on Tuesday.
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Yadav had said that around noon on Monday, security personnel began sanitising and cordoning off the venue of the Summit in preparation for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit which he said was scheduled at 2 pm.
He said that he tried to explain to officials that the company was building India’s first patented AI wearable and requested permission to remain at the booth to display the product. According to him, “The security officials told me that one person could stay, and since I was all excited, I stayed back.” “One of the security personnel also liked our device,” he had said.
However, Yadav had said that a second set of security personnel had subsequently shown up, and asked him to leave. “I don’t know how they coordinated amongst themselves,” he said. “So I left the premises (Hall number 3).”
He alleged that before leaving, he had asked whether he should also take away the wearable devices, but was told that other exhibitors too were leaving their equipment, including laptops, behind, and that security personnel would “take care”.
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According to Yadav, however, the gates remained shut till 6 pm, which was “much much longer than anticipated”.
“I had also made friends with a volunteer who said he would tell me when we could possibly come back. Around 6 pm, when he went to our stall, he informed us that the devices were not there,” Yadav said.
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