Groom’s car stolen just before ‘baraat’

NEW DELHI: A 26-year-old man’s wedding plans were thrown off track when he realised his car was stolen minutes before he was to proceed with the wedding procession in the vehicle on Thursday. As a result, he was forced to book a cab at the last moment for the ‘baraat’.

Police officials said t he groom’s Mahindra Bolero remained untraced through Friday after it was reportedly stolen from a residential neighbourhood in south Delhi’s Tughlaqabad Extension. Chinmoy Biswal, deputy commissioner of police (southeast), said a case in this connection has been registered and efforts on to trace vehicle.

“I was excited about the wedding, but it turned into a damp affair. All my attention remained on the stolen vehicle and guests kept asking me about the theft instead of congratulating me,” said Rahul Jain, a cooking gas supplier, who lives with his family in Tughlaqabad.

Jain said his ‘baraat’ (wedding procession) was scheduled to go from Tughlaqabad to the bride’s home in Loni in Ghaziabad. “We had brought the maroon Bolero from our native village in Madhya Pradesh in order to use it for the baraat,” he said.

“I was to travel in the same Balero around 3.30pm. We planned to get the vehicle decorated with flowers closer to the wedding venue later in the day,” Jain said.

Jain said he discovered that the Bolero was missing when he headed out to the vehicle at around 3pm dressed in his wedding attire. “There was no excitement in getting married... But my family convinced me to go ahead with the wedding procession in a hired cab,” said Jain.