Ghaziabad: 10 of ‘Pardi’ gang held for

The crime branch of the Ghaziabad police late Tuesday night arrested ten members of the “Pardi gang” — belonging to an eponymous tribal group in Madhya Pradesh and considered by the police to be one of the oldest groups primarily involved in burglaries/thefts — on charges of breaking into a jewellery shop in Loni’s Ram Vihar market and decamping with jewellery worth about ₹50 lakh on the night of January 9/10.
The burglary took place at the shop of jeweller Sonu Verma, a resident of Uttaranchal Colony, under jurisdiction of Loni Border police station. The CCTV footage from nearby cameras had revealed that the suspects, numbering about 15-20, gathered outside the shop and dismantled the shutter of shop, before entering it and decamping with jewellery.
The police said they initially arrested three members of the gang during a crackdown near Lal Bagh late Tuesday night and, two of them, the kingpin identified as Parshuram Pardi, and accomplice Dharmod Pardi, were nabbed after a brief gunfight, in which the suspects sustained gunshot wounds to their legs in the retaliatory fire from the police.
“During questioning, they revealed the names of seven others who had gathered near Banthla underpass to perform another theft. The suspects all belong to the Pardi tribe of Madhya Pradesh. We also recovered some of the stolen jewellery from their possession while the rest is with other accomplices — about 10 of them– who are absconding,” said Sacchidanand, additional deputy commissioner of police (crime).
The investigators said the gang members remained camped near Sadar Bazar in Delhi and would sell items like balloons, confectionary items or flower pots while they planned their heist.
“They had done a recce of the jewellers shop, which is located near a railway line. On the night of the incident, they reached Khajoori area and then walked alongside the tracks to reach the shop. They fled via the same route. We deployed several teams and used local informers and CCTV footage to identify the thieves. On Tuesday night, they had come to Loni to carry out another theft when they got nabbed by the police,” said an officer from the crime branch, asking not to be named.
The police said teams are on lookout to nab the 10 absconding members and recover the remaining loot from them.