New Delhi: The Delhi police has busted a gang involved in over 100 alleged thefts from marriage venues in Delhi-NCR, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. The police arrested five accused and apprehended a juvenile, whom they had kept as bonded labour, the police said on Monday.
Five members of the gang — Gokul Prasad, Sawant Sisodiya, Lakhan Sisodiya, Abhishek Sisodiya and Vikash Sisodiya, all residents of Rajgarh in MP, were arrested from Mahipalpur Road near Chatarpur Metro station on January 23, said Ishwar Singh, DCP (South). A stolen Santro car was also recovered from them.
According to the police, 15 cases of theft have been worked out. The police was receiving frequent complaints of theft at banquet halls in posh localities of South Delhi, hosting marriage ceremonies. During investigation, CCTV footage provided glimpses of the suspects.
The police noticed that in all the cases, a minor boy was seen as actually committing the theft while his other associates, unknown in number, took all precautions for not being captured in the CCTV cameras. The boy, did the bag lifting, remained inconspicuous even while seated next to the bride or the groom during late night rituals which are attended mainly by close family members.
During interrogation, the gang members revealed that they used stolen cars as getaway vehicle. They also kept a standby Swift car which had genuine papers, to be used in emergency, said the officer.
The car was later recovered by police and a costly Ceska pistol, Czech Republic make, was found in it. The pistol was stolen from a marriage ceremony at Amrapali Mall in Indirapuram, Ghaziabad, he said. In continuing investigations, the juvenile was also apprehended and produced before the Juvenile Justice Board as per applicable law from where he has been sent to a remand home. Interrogations also led to revelations that Sawant was the kingpin of the gang and that the juvenile was employed by them on “contract of bondage” and his mother was paid Rs 2 lakh for allowing him to join the gang.
An “iqrarnama (contract)” to this effect was also executed between the gang and the mother of the minor boy. The contract has been recovered from the mother of the accused boy, he said.
