A gang of three women, arrested recently for stealing cash and jewellery from high-end weddings in the national Capital, had a double existence. Most of the time they would lead ordinary lives in their village in Rajgarh district of Madhya Pradesh, but come wedding season and they would swoop down on Delhi and target opulent weddings at five star hotels and banquet halls.
In one such strike on February 2, they decamped with cash and jewellery worth Rs7 lakh from a wedding at Hotel lalit.
Soft spoken and dressed in wedding finery, these ‘beautiful’ women would mix easily with the guests and nobody ever suspected them as they had taken special training in etiquette and spoke perfect English.
These deadly beauties committed more than 100 thefts before they were unmasked by the Delhi Police Crime Branch along with their partner in crime.
“Dressed in expensive wedding clothes, the Madhya Pradesh-based Rano gang would target weddings in posh areas and at five star hotels. The gang consisted of the leader Rano (35), Varsha (25), Manisha (22) and one auto rickshaw driver, Satish Yadav (30). The police team has recovered expensive wedding outfits from their possession in Delhi,” said Joint Commissioner of Police, Crime, RS Yadav.
“The women have disclosed that they bought pricey wedding outfits from malls in West Delhi. They would spend the whole day shopping or sleeping. late in the evening, they would call the auto rickshaw driver, whom they paid Rs2,000 a night, and set to work. They would scout upscale areas of the national Capital looking for high-end weddings. Once they found the right place they would gate crash and mingle with the crowd and keep close to the family members. However, they never got photos clicked with the bride and groom in order to avoid getting caught,” said a senior police officer.
The police have recovered Rs32,000, one auto rickshaw, two bags and new branded clothes purchased specially for weddings from the gang.
Police said there are several gangs like the Rano gang which specialise in theft of valuables during weddings. The Rano gang that was operating for the last five years came to Delhi a month before the wedding season started.
“Once they reached Delhi they would take a room on rent in Pratap Nagar. At the wedding venue they would stick close to the family members in charge of the bag containing cash and jewellery,” said a senior police officer.
“Once the attention of the family members looking after the cash and jewellery was diverted by the wedding rituals in the wee hours, the women stole the bag and made their getaway in the auto,” he added.
After the February 2 theft, there was another such theft on February 20 from Royal Palace in Ashok Vihar area.
In light of the rising number of such thefts, the cases were given to a Crime Branch team under DCP Madhur Verma.
Based on the CCTV footage from the crime scene, police identified the women and the Crime Branch traced the accused to their native place Rajgarh.
A senior police officer said that when the team reached Rajgarh, they faced a lot of resistance from the villagers who refused to disclose the whereabouts of the women.
The accused later told the police that if anyone from their district told the police their whereabouts that person was allegedly forced to pay Rs10 lakh to the village head as a fine.
“During interrogation, the auto rickshaw driver confessed that he had been part of the Rano gang for the last two months. He was introduced to the women through a common friend, Aslam, and was being paid Rs2,000 a day on commission,” the Joint CP added.