The woman, identified as Gomti, a resident of Rajgarh in Madhya Pradesh, told police that they came to Punjab only during the wedding seasons to carry out thefts at weddings. (Representational image)The Ludhiana police on Monday stated that they had arrested a 40-year-old woman, apprehended her 12-year-old daughter and claimed to have cracked a bunch of theft cases that were reported from the city recently.
Investigators also stated that two more men, both aides of the mother-daughter duo, were on the run and a manhunt had been launched for their arrest.
The woman, identified as Gomti, a resident of Rajgarh in Madhya Pradesh, told police that they came to Punjab only during the wedding seasons to carry out thefts at weddings. The two absconding men were identified as Ajju and Kalu, aged between 25 years to 30 years, and hailing from Madhya Pradesh. They are relatives of the arrested woman.
Ludhiana police commissioner Kaustubh Sharma said that two such thefts had reported recently from weddings — one near Aarti Chowk and the other from a wedding venue in Haibowal — in the past week. In both cases, a minor girl was captured by cameras stealing cash and gold jewellery.
“The police traced the minor and later arrested her mother. The accused told police that in the past one week, they had carried out two thefts — one each in Ludhiana and Nawanshahr,” said Sharma.
“They used to target the close relatives of the bride and the groom, who usually were entrusted to carry the bags containing cash and jewellery. The minor girl used to follow her targets and after stealing the bags, used to escape from the wedding venue, and meet with their aides outside,” he added.
Inspector Jasveer Singh, SHO, division number 5 police station, said that the accused were living in a rented room near Sherpur. At the rented accommodation too, Gomti stole a purse of her neighbour, which contained Rs 2,000 cash.
The minor girl was sent to an observation home in Jalandhar after being apprehended, the police said.
An FIR under sections 454 (house trespass), 380 (theft), and 34 (act done with common intention) of the IPC was registered against the accused at division number 5 police station.