Kishan, 22, who goes by his first name, put on a freshly stitched suit for a winter evening wedding. He along with his friend Sonu (24) and a 15-year-old boy sat in their car, drove to the banquet hall in Karkardooma, and introduced themselves as the groom’s relatives.
While the teenager, whom Kishan claimed was his nephew, played with the children at the marriage, the duo blended in, congratulating the couple and interacting with the attendees.
Hours later, the three vanished from the spot, and so did the gift of over Rs 2 lakh in cash given to the couple by guests.
The Delhi Police’s Crime Branch arrested the three last month for being linked to six robberies at weddings across Delhi-NCR, where they allegedly decamped with jewellery and cash worth more than Rs 10 lakh.
Amid the ongoing wedding season, officers said more than a dozen such operations, christened by the police as ‘Band Baaja Baaraat gangs’, are active, with two being busted in the last month.
Every year during this time, around four to five such gangs with involvement in multiple wedding robberies are busted by the police.
Police said wedding organisers are informed beforehand to tighten security and ensure that no uninvited guest is allowed entry. “We circulate pictures of gang members who have targeted weddings at banquet halls and farmhouses,” a senior police officer said.
“These gangs consist of five members, including women and juveniles, who roam around the city in hired cars looking for a suitable target. They sometimes divide themselves across weddings and end up targeting four a day,” said the officer.
Yearly affair
Senior police officers said that every year, as the wedding season arrives, so do such thieves who specifically target weddings at upscale locations such as Chattarpur, Paschim Vihar, Punjabi Bagh and Surajkund.
“Many of the gangs originate from Gulkhedi, Kadiya and Sulkher villages of Rajgarh district in Madhya Pradesh… they return after carrying out a sizeable number of robberies,” said an officer.
Special CP (Crime) Ravindra Yadav said: “The kingpin of these gangs lure parents of children between the ages of 9 and 15 years in villages and offer them money in installments. In exchange, the child is ‘hired’ for theft at weddings.”
An officer said that depending on the profile of the wedding, the gang members buy new clothes from local markets and malls and wear expensive watches and ornaments to evade any suspicion.
Added the officer: “The juveniles undergo a training session on how to spot jewellery and other expensive items at a wedding and how to create distractions. They are told to eat snacks at the wedding to dispel any suspicion. If caught, the child is instructed not to reveal the names of their accomplices.”
Police said that the accused do their best to ensure they are not caught on CCTV or in footage captured by wedding photographers and videographers.
Special CP Yadav said that the gang members stay in rented houses and sometimes, instead of going themselves, drop the children off at functions and wait outside marriages to escort the child back with stolen items.
Added an officer, “The accused are constantly in touch on the phone. They usually don’t pickpocket and set their eyes on the table where most gifts are stacked.”
Police have devised many ways to tackle the menace – from posing as baraatis themselves to fixing GPS on vehicles used by the accused.
A Delhi-based wedding organiser, requesting anonymity, told The Indian Express: “Our clients request us to make more security arrangements throughout the venue… One of our priorities is to install CCTV cameras throughout… More security personnel are also deployed across the venue to check that only relatives and family members enter. Frisking is also carried out.”
Prateek, manager at Shrine Wedding Planners, said that his firm follows a standard operating protocol where personal details of workers at the event are registered and identities of attendees are verified before allowing them entry.
Said an official at the Shubharambh Wedding Planners: “In high-profile weddings, we ensure that guests are given rooms based on prior invitation so there is a count of the number of guests. Many such thieves enter the wedding during the time when the baraat comes as it takes place outdoor… There are enough videographers present at the venue and it is ensured that police have enough video evidence to sift through if such a case is reported.”
