Delhi: Police bust 'Dhoop Batti' gang; jewellery, antique coins recovered

New Delhi: With the arrest of four persons, city police claimed to have busted the 'Dhoop Batti' gang that allegedly used to commit daytime burglaries.

'Dhoop Batti' was the code used by them. The accused interacted among themselves by telling them that today they will go for 'dhoop batti' and will meet at a specific point, said DCP (East) Omvir Singh.

They used to keep a gold testing stone, known as 'Kasauti' with them.

After they had stolen the valuables, they used to check whether they were real or artificial, so they could not be fooled by jewellers while selling the stolen jewellery, he said.

The gang was allegedly involved in more than 25 daytime burglaries in Shahdara and southeast Delhi districts in the last four months.

These incidents were reported mostly from areas having builder flats between 11 pm to 4 pm, he said.

In five cases of burglaries in Pandav Nagar, Shahdara, Jagat Puri, Sunlight Colony and Shakarpur, the gang members were captured on CCTV footage.

Police managed to establish that Monu-Pappu Dhoop Batti Gang was involved in the burglary incidents.

On Saturday, a police team found the gang members were in Pandav Nagar area to commit another burglary.

The team reached the area and after a massive manhunt, the four accused, Monu Tomar, Nitin Goyal, Pradeep, and Deepak were arrested, said Singh.

Jewellery items, antique coins and 11 house-breaking implements were recovered from them. An LED TV stolen from a house in Jagat Puri was also recovered, he added.

During interrogation, they told police they used to commit burglaries during daytime in areas that have builder flats.

"They chose those houses in which there were four or more flats. The main gates of such houses remain open during daytime and they thought they will get easy access to the building," he said.

They took advantage of the fact that the houses used to be empty with the children being away at school and their parents at work.