In yet another case of theft in weddings, two women, dressed in wedding finery, stole a bag containing jewellery and high-end phones from a wedding at a five-star hotel in Lutyens Delhi, police said on Thursday. The entire incident was caught on a CCTV camera but the women are yet to be found.
The case came to light when the complainant, Shreeram Khaitan, hosted his daughter's marriage ceremony at Hotel Shangri-La's Eros Hotel on January 29, police said. The wedding was conducted inside the ballroom of the hotel premises. At around 11.30 pm, the complainant's wife Rekha told her husband that the bag she was carrying containing valuables was missing.
"The complainant had informed us that his wife was lying on the sofa in the ballroom. Later she realised that the bag that she was carrying with her was missing," said a senior police official.
Later, his wife realised that the bag containing a gold chain, a diamond ring in gold, I-phone 6 and 20-25 pieces of silver coins was missing, they added.
"They had informed the hotel security staff about the incident. They tried to inquire into the matter, after which they informed Khaitan that two women were seen stepping out of the ballroom, with the bag of the same description arousing suspicion that they might be involved in the theft," the officer added.
The hotel security made efforts to trace them or verify their identity but they didn't have any success, Khaitan told police.
He went on to file a police complaint the very next day.
Police are now probing whether it was the handiwork of the gang that targets wedding parties and had once decamped with jewellery, Rs 7 lakh cash and a phone of a judicial officer in the Juvenile Justice Board from his nephew's wedding in Civil Lines area in December. In another case on the very same day, a gang had targeted a wedding in India Islamic Centre, wherein, a minor was also caught on tape stealing jewellery worth Rs 40 lakh.
The police in that case had reported that there must have been a gang of at least 5-10 individuals who were also dressed in fine wedding clothes and were seen interacting with the accused, however, the gang is yet to be traced as the Inter State Cell of Crime Branch had been tasked with probing the matter but they haven't been able to nab the accused. Last month, police had claimed to have busted a gang of thieves specialising in theft at marriage venues with the help of their juvenile assistants whom they had kept as bonded labours.