6 Pardhis tribals accused of stealing 82 kg silver in TN arrested in Ujjain

A six-member gang from the Pardhis tribe in Madhya Pradesh which allegedly looted a jewellery store in Tamil Nadu, was arrested in Ujjain after it left a calling card - the tribe’s love of silver.

Published on: Jul 9, 2017, 09:48:38 IST

Hindustan Times, Bhopal | By Shruti Tomar

Prefer HTon Google

Share via

Copy link

The Pardhis tribe’s fascination for silver ornaments helped the Madhya Police nab six alleged thieves from the community in Ujjain on Friday after they had looted 82 kilograms of silver from a jewellery shop 1800 km away in Tamil Nadu’s Airyalur on May 27.

Police in Ujjain arrested six alleged thieves from the Pardhis community who broke into a jewellery store in Tamil Nadu’s Airyalur in May and stole 82 kg of silver.

The six-member gang also stole 150 gm gold in the heist and returned to Ujjain.

Initially flummoxed by the thieves’ preference for silver, the Tamil Nadu police found that the Pardhis tribe in Madhya Pradesh is known for its love of silver. Criminals from the tribe concentrate more on stealing silver whenever they rob a shop or a house.

For the Pardhis, silver is a sign of luck as the idols of their deities are made of silver.

“They feel themselves wealthy and safe from all kinds of trouble in their lives if they have at least one ornament or bullion of silver,” Shibani, an activist who has been working for the uplift of the community told HT.

After learning about the Pardhis, the Tamil Nadu police contacted their Madhya Pradesh counterparts. After a brief probe, the MP police located the accused in Ujjain and arrested them on Friday. Police seized some ornaments from their possession.

Ujjain additional superintendent of police Rajesh Sahay said, “The thieves from Pardhi community have a fixed modus operandi and as silver is held pious in their community, they give preference to stealing silver jewelry.”

Sahay said the trend of stealing silver ornaments over gold was witnessed in more than two dozen cases of robberies by Pardhi community in the past few years.

He said the gang probably thought that they wouldn’t be caught because the secne of crime was far away but it was their love for silver that helped the police to crack the case.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Shruti Tomar
I have spent over a decade chronicling Madhya Pradesh’s political and social landscape, covering politics, investigative journalism, crime, human interest, and government policy, blending sharp insight with ground‑level depth. I have closely tracked three assembly elections, three Lok Sabha elections, leadership transitions in MP while exposing governance lapses, tender irregularities, and flawed policy rollouts. My reports have revealed gaps in the Cheetah project, irregularities in medical education, rigging in recruitment exams, and loopholes in policy implementation. In crime reporting, I have moved beyond FIRs to map systemic patterns — from organised crime networks and gender‑based violence to custodial accountability — balancing urgency with sensitivity. My journalism is defined by a commitment to human interest. I have profiled the marginalised Bancchda community, documented atrocities against tribal groups, and highlighted efforts to preserve their culture through heritage liquor and revival of spiritual practices. I have reported on farmers struggling with failed MSP promises, giving voice to those often reduced to statistics in policy files. Passionate about field reporting, I have reported on rampant sand mining in Chambal and Narmada, pharmaceutical companies supplying medicines under altered names, the dire condition of schools and colleges, the plight of commercial sex workers, and skewed sex ratios in specific districts. Beyond deadlines, and as HT’s state correspondent and assistant editor in Madhya Pradesh, I engage with ministers, farmers, students, and activists, believing the best policy stories begin with a single human voice. A postgraduate in Journalism and Mass Communication, I also hold a diploma in sports journalism.Read More

Get the latest India News, breaking headlines and real-time updates from across the country. Stay informed about politics, government policies, crime, weather and major national developments.