Siblings who ordered laptops, fled without paying, arrested

Interrogation revealed they and three others had employed the same modus operandi in several Indian cities: they ordered laptops and cameras and escaped without paying.

Two siblings were allegedly caught red-handed from a guest house in south Delhi’s Safdarajung Enclave while trying to flee with laptops and cameras by hoodwinking the delivery boy, police said .

Two siblings were allegedly caught red-handed from a guest house in south Delhi’s Safdarajung Enclave while trying to flee with laptops and cameras by hoodwinking the delivery boy, police said. (Delhi Police)

Their interrogation revealed they and three others had employed the same modus operandi in several Indian cities: they ordered laptops and cameras and escaped without paying.

The police identified the siblings as Deepak, 23, and Om Prakash, 20, both residents of outer Delhi’s Nihal Vihar.

Police said the five men would travel across the country and book hotels using fake identity proofs so that they could not be traced later.

They would order multiple laptops and expensive cameras on an incomplete address in the same neighbourhood. When the delivery boy would arrive with the goods and call them to find the address, they would meet them outside their hotel.

“Once they collected the goods, they would say they had no cash in hand and take the delivery boy to an ATM, divert his attention and escape with the product,” police said.

On Thursday, the two siblings chose a guest house in Safdarajung Enclave for the crime. They collected the laptops, told the delivery boy they had no cash and asked him to accompany one of them to an ATM.

At the ATM, the suspect managed to avoid paying the cash but the delivery boy stayed on with him until he returned to the guest house. Police said at the guest house, the delivery boy found the seals of the laptop packages broken and the laptops missing.

The two siblings tried to flee when he alerted his colleague, a driver. They chased the siblings and caught them. The police registered a case and interrogated them to learn that they had allegedly successfully carried out similar crimes in other cities.