The wedding season is here, and so are the ‘Band, Baja, Baraat’ Gangs — a name used by Delhi Police for thieves who blend in the crowd at weddings as guests and steal jewellery, shagun items, gifts and cash from other attendees.
Every year, leaders of notorious gangs visit villages in Madhya Pradesh to recruit new blood, police said. “These recruits are then trained to blend in at weddings, to carry out the theft without drawing any attention,” said Vikram Singh, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime Branch).
On Wednesday, the Crime Branch arrested four members of one such gang, who executed a series of bag-lifting heists, from their hideout in Gurgaon, while recovering five mobile phones and 13 SIM cards.
The accused, Raj Kumar and his associates Sumit, Mohit, and Karan, were arrested near Ghitorni Metro Station by a Crime team led by Inspector Gurmeet Singh under the supervision of ACP Rohitash Singh.
Police said Raj Kumar aka Raju, 50, was the brains behind an organised network of thieves who slipped into weddings unnoticed.
The DCP said Sumit and Karan raided two wedding ceremonies in Alipur, on the night of November 12. On November 17, the duo struck again at a high-profile wedding in a farmhouse in Chhatarpur’s Maidan Garhi.
During questioning, they admitted to the crimes. “The accused disclosed that while Sumit and Karan entered the ceremonies to commit the thefts, Raj Kumar and Mohit waited outside in a private taxi, keeping watch and giving them directions over mobile phones. After the theft, Sumit and Karan gave the stolen items to Raju, who would later distribute them among the gang members,” DCP Singh said.
Police said the gang has been connected to several FIRs filed across Delhi.
