‘Chadi and Baniyan’ robbery gang busted in Odisha, 11 arrested

Bhubaneswar, July 18 (IANS) The Cuttack-Bhubaneswar Commissionerate Police on Tuesday busted a robbery gang named ‘Chadi and Baniyan’ gang and arrested its 11 members.

The police said that the gang was involved in a series of house burglary cases in different areas of Bhubaneswar city.

Last night, during patrolling, Dhauli police station staff nabbed the group near Tarakeswar Temple, near Daya River when they were on their way to commit crime in a group, said Bhubaneswar DCP Prateek Singh.

The gang members are speaking Hindi and speaking in their local dialect dressed in half pant/Chadi (Kachha) and Baniyan (Ganji), tying their dress on waist line by using napkins with no foot wears. They are furnishing a name and address which seems to be false. They are vagabonds with no definite place of stay or address locally known as ‘Banjaras’, he said.

In the daytime they wander here and there as laborers and in the late hour of the night commit crime. Even, they rob valuable items in three to four houses in one night, the DCP said.

They belong to a group of well-organized inter-state criminal gang known as Chadi and Baniyan gang who professionally commit house breaking and burglary/robbery/dacoity in night hours in between 2 a.m. to 4 a.m.

For the last one year they have been active in Odisha, staying as a group in Bhubaneswar railway station and sometimes at Cuttack and Puri railway stations. They avail auto as transportation to nearby areas and bus and train for long distance areas where they commit crime.

They went out of their place of stay in a group prepared with housebreaking instruments /sharp cutting weapons wearing full clad dresses and, on the way, change their dress & wear only Chadi and Ganji, tied their dress on waistline, without foot wear, covered their face by spare cloth from a short distance of place of crime, he added.

According to the police, they target colonies close to roads, newly developed, less lighted areas and choose footpaths to reach their target houses. They use big size screw drivers, sly wrenches, specially designed house breaking instruments made of iron for breaking of door locks, window grills and effect their entry into the residential houses in the late hour of the night after 1 a.m.

The gang usually breaks the cupboards, almirahs, boxes and rob gold ornaments, cash and other valuables. They also keep the inmates of the house sleeping in the rooms confined by locking/bolting the doors from.

After crime they decamp by changing their dress and availing vehicles plying on the road and pretending to be laborers. Deliberately they never bring mobile phones to the place of crime to avoid leaving a digital footprint, the police said.

They dispose of stolen articles to different persons, shopkeepers, and jewelry shops for their gain. The arrested persons are native of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand.

In Odisha the gang was involved in many cases in Khurda, Puri, Bhadrak and other districts. They are an intra national gang and might be wanted in cases of other states of India which is a part of further investigation, the police informed.