In the second such case reported in less than 24 hours, two women posing as guests at a a wedding ceremony decamped with a bag containing jewellery and an i-Phone from a five star hotel in Lutyens' Delhi on January 29, said the police.
Caught in CCTV
The complainant, Shreeram Khaitan, hosted the marriage ceremony of his daughter at Hotel Shangri-La's Eros Hotel on January 29 at their ballroom. The accused women, dressed in wedding finery, entered the ballroom where the function was happening and were captured in CCTV cameras.
Mr. Khaitan told the police that his wife, Rekha, raised an alarm around 11:30 p.m., when she informed him and others present that the bag she was carrying was missing.
A senior police officer said that Ms. Rekha told them that the bag contained a gold chain, a diamond ring, the i-phone 6 and 20-25 pieces of silver coins.
The family then brought this to the notice of the hotel security staff, who told him that they might have seen two women stepping out with the same bag out of the ballroom, the police said.
The hotel security made efforts to trace them or verify their identity but to no avail, Mr. Khaitan told the police. No breakthrough has been acheived but the police suspect that both the incidents could be the handiwork of a gang of women and children.
Similar modus operandi
The incident came less than a day after a group of ten-year-olds pulled off a similar heist by decamping with jewellery worth ₹40 lakh at a wedding at India Islamic Cultural centre adopting the same modus operandi.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (New Delhi) Braja Kishore Singh said that a few days before these incidents a similar one was reported Civil Services Officers' Club at KG Marg where the women posing as Mehendi artist entered and later decamped with a bag and were captured on camera.
The police are also probing if the gang that targets wedding parties and had decamped with jewellery, ₹7 lakh cash and a phone of a judicial officer in Juvenile Justice Board from his nephew's wedding in Civil Lines area in December is behind the aforementioned three incidents. The police are also planning to issue an advisory to those hosting such events.
Screen guests
“Most of the weddings are private functions and the onus lies with the hosts also to screen their guests and make sure uninvited ones are not allowed. For some functions we issue permission and we will warn them about the activites of these gangs. Now, our focus is on identifying the women,” said Mr. Singh.
