Five arrested for gold heist in Delhi posing as officials

The Delhi Police have arrested five persons for allegedly looting around one kg of gold from a jewellery workshop in central Delhi by impersonating enforcement officials conducting a ‘raid’. The accused — inspired by the Bollywood film ‘Special 26’ — staged a raid at the workshop on November 27 by posing as Delhi Police and income tax officials, and ‘confiscated’ around one kg of gold before fleeing.  The investigation — stretching across Delhi, Rohtak, Hisar, Hansi and other parts of Haryana — culminated in a 1,200-kilometre pursuit.

According to the police, the gang, inspired by the Bollywood heist film Special 26, carried out the robbery on November 27 after entering the workshop disguised as law-enforcement officials. One of the men wore a police uniform, while the others claimed to be Income Tax officers conducting an “inspection”. The group seized mobile phones from workers, announced a search operation, uprooted the CCTV DVR, and fled with approximately 1 kg of gold. Five

men — including a Delhi Government employee, and another claiming to be an Officer on Special Duty (OSD) in the Madhya Pradesh Government’s public relations department — were arrested following a 72-hour chase across Delhi-NCR and several districts of Haryana, police said. A case was registered immediately at the Prasad Nagar police station, and a team began cross-checking every possible route the suspects might have taken.

During the staged raid, one accused wore a fake police uniform while others acted as income tax officers, seizing mobile phones of workers, wiping CCTV footage, and escaping with the gold, the senior officer said. Subsequently, the police launched a massive operation spanning over 1,200 km across Bahadurgarh, Gurugram, Sonipat, Panipat, Rohtak, Jhajjar, Hisar and Jind. The officer said footage from over 250 CCTV cameras were scanned and advanced technical surveillance was mounted to track the movement of the gang across multiple cities. Based on technical leads, police first apprehended Sandeep (30), a native of Jind and currently living in Bhopal, from Bahadurgarh on December 2. He claims to be an OSD in the Madhya Pradesh Government, which is being verified, police said.

His interrogation led to the arrest of four other accused — Rakesh Sharma (41) from Rohtak, Shaminder Pal Singh (43) and Lavpreet Singh (30) from Hisar, and Parvinder (42) from Delhi. Police recovered 435.03 grams of the stolen gold, `3.97 lakh in cash, three cars used in the crime — including an SUV — and five fake ID card holders and lanyards (piece of uniform) bearing ‘Delhi Police’ markings. The disguises worn during the ‘raid’ were also seized.

According to investigators, Parvinder, a Delhi Government employee, and Sandeep devised the plan after learning from an associate that jewellery workshops in the Karol Bagh-Dev Nagar belt handled large quantities of gold.

The gang then acquired ID cards, lanyards, and a fake police uniform and conducted the raid on November 27.

Police say that immediately after the robbery, the gold was divided. Parvinder allegedly took 500 grams, Sandeep kept 500 grams, out of which 428 grams were sold. He reportedly handed Rs 25.5 lakh to Rakesh for further distribution among the team. The rest of the proceeds, police say, were used by Sandeep to settle personal debts.

Efforts are underway to trace the remaining stolen gold and arrest the absconding accused — identified as Akram, Suresh alias Jammal, and Naveen alias Kala, they added.