Police looking for the uninvited couple who decamp with valuables

NEW DELHI: They are uninvited guests at a wedding. They come, they steal and they vanish. A couple has caused much of a nuisance at Delhi’s weddings, where they pretend to be invitees and decamp with the bag of jewellery.

The Delhi police has prepared a sketch of the couple who are striking at banquet and marriage halls and walk away with valuables, especially cash bags given in ‘shagun’ along with gold and diamond sets.

The first case was reported from Kadkaddooma in Shahadra on November 30 where a man and a woman are seen sitting confidently on the stage in an engagement party.

However, after some time the hosts realised that they have lost a bag containing valuables and around Rs 4 lakh. The CCTV footage zeroed in on a couple who was seen walking away with the stolen items. The theft was committed in broad daylight.

A week later on December 8, a Junior Engineer complained that while he was attending his nephew’s marriage at GO’S mess in Civil Lines in North Delhi, someone stole a bag containing gold neck set, gold earrings, diamond tops and cash worth around Rs 7 lakh. The police while investigating got to know about a suspicious girl and the cops were quick enough to suspect if the two cases are related given the same modus operandi.

The photo of the girl from the CCTV grab of the previous incident was shown to this family and they quickly recognised the girl, linking the two cases as one.

Now, the Delhi police is looking for this confident couple who dress up to attend a wedding and later commit the theft capitalising on the hesitation that no one cares to ask the guests which side they are from.

“No suicide note was found. Ram was suffering from tuberculosis. Prima facie, it appears that he took this extreme step as he was in distress due to this illness. Further investigation is going on,” said a senior police officer.

The incident was reported near gate number two of Delhi University’s North Campus. Locals spotted Ram’s body around 9.30am and one of them informed police. When the local police reached the spot, they found that Ram was dead. He had allegedly hanged himself from a tree with a cloth.

Officials said that no external injuries were found on his body. So the possibility of murder has been ruled out.

The body was taken to Hindu Rao Hospital for post mortem, which will be conducted on Tuesday. His family members have been informed, police said. “Further action will be taken once the autopsy results are out,” the officer said.

Ram lived with his wife and three sons in Khyber Pass at Civil Lines. Earlier Ram used to iron clothes for a living. But he stopped after his health began deteriorating, police said.