63-year-old Delhi man turns burglar to splurge on five girlfriends

Bandhu Ram was in a relationship with at least five women and would gift them the valuables he stole, Delhi Police said.

For this 63-year-old, age was just a number. He was nimble enough to be a cat burglar— a crime he took to in order to splurge on his five ‘girlfriends’— he exercised regularly, dyed his hair and lived life “king-size”.

The women Bandhu Ram was involved with are all aged between 28 and 40 years, police said. (Picture: Sourced)

What did him in was the CCTV footage from a factory in north Delhi. Police saw the man making off with valuables and arrested him on Monday.

Deputy commissioner of police (north) Nupur Prasad said the accused, Bandhu Ram, was in a relationship with at least five women and would gift them the valuables he stole. “He would sell the rest of the booty to fund his extravagant lifestyle,” DCP Prasad said.

Ram is no stranger to burglaries, police said. “He has been into crime for over 20 years and has been arrested several times in the past,” the DCP said.

Ram, who is a bachelor, lived in a slum in central Delhi’s Anand Parbat. He had moved away from his family in Mangolpuri years ago to live separately. The women he is involved with are all aged between 28 and 40 years, police said.

Police said Ram’s latest burglary was at a factory in Sarai Rohilla in the early hours of Saturday. The factory staff had opened the shutters in the morning and realised that two laptops, a smart LED television set and Rs 60,000 cash were stolen.

A case was registered at Sarai Rohilla police station. Police said while scanning the CCTV camera footage, the suspect was seen taking away the valuables. It turned out that at least three others burglaries in the same neighbourhood in the recent past were carried out by Ram, police said.

A subsequent probe and a secret input led to the arrest of Ram from Anand Parbat. The stolen electronics and Rs 5,000 cash were recovered from him, police said.