Delhi’s wedding gangs are back, target bride’s mother near Connaught Place

At a wedding function on Saturday, a bag containing cash and jewellery worth nearly Rs 2 lakh was stolen from the bride’s mother at Jai Singh Road on Saturday.

As the wedding season kicks off, last year’s party poopers – gangs which mingle with guests to commit thefts – are back.

Last year, many such wedding thefts were reported in which gang members — primarily women and children — merged with guests at a wedding and then decamped with bags.

At a wedding function on Saturday, a bag containing cash and jewellery worth nearly Rs 2 lakh was stolen from the bride’s mother at Jai Singh Road on Saturday.

Deputy commissioner of police (New Delhi) BK Singh said that the manner in which the theft was committed resembled a host of thefts that were reported at weddings in Delhi-NCR last year.

Singh confirmed that the theft was the first such this year. He said the complainant was Mariamma Josh, a resident of Mayur Vihar, who reported that the theft took place in YMCA lawns during the wedding function of her daughter Asha.

In her statement, Josh said that she suspected that a 10-year-old boy had stolen the bag from the podium when she was looking elsewhere. He managed to take away the bag when Josh, a senior nursing staff at Apollo Hospital, was talking to guests.

A PCR call was made from the wedding venue and a case of theft was registered at Connaught Place police station, added Singh.

Last year, many such wedding thefts were reported in which gang members — primarily women and children — merged with guests at a wedding and then decamped with bags. Many of these gangs were traced to a single village in Madhya Pradesh’s Rajgarh. Police had even issued advisories warning that these gangs may even bribe the staff of catering services and venue staff to provide information about the wedding and facilitate entry.

The current theft has prompted fears that the gang members have returned despite a massive crackdown, which saw several members being arrested.