They climb pipes, sneak in through balconies: How Kachha Baniyan gang targets South Delhi homes

The case remains unsolved. It was the biggest of the four heists by the Kachha Baniyan gang in South Delhi last year, said police. The remaining three — two in Malviya Nagar in June and September 2025, and one in Hauz Khas in July 2025 — were solved, but the amount stolen was significantly low.

Come 2026, the gang has struck once again in South Delhi. On May 1, six men in their undergarments crossed the Vijay Mandal park in Malviya Nagar to enter the upscale Sarvodaya Enclave.

Police said while three waited in the park, the other three entered the balcony of B-250, the house of businessman Praveen Kumar. CCTV footage showed them locking both bedrooms where Praveen’s family was asleep.

According to police, members of the Kachha Baniyan gang mostly belong to a community in Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra. (Express photo)

They then jogged around the halls, opened some drawers, and, within four minutes, escaped with jewellery worth Rs 1.5 to Rs 2 lakh, police officers said. Praveen only realised it the next day, when he woke up to a locked door.

This time, police managed to track them down to Jahanpanah forest in Ambedkar Nagar. The accused, however, were armed and fired at the police team.

“When officers reached the area, accused Nirmal Pardi, Devin and Samar opened fire at them. The police team fired in retaliation, and bullets hit the three on the legs,” an officer said.

Police arrested the trio and their accomplices — Kaake, Krish and Shivaji — from the spot. All six are from Madhya Pradesh’s Guna.

CCTV footage in last year’s burglaries, seen by The Indian Express, reveals similarities: apart from the uniform of choice, the robbers enter localities through parks, they are always on foot, and are good at climbing up pipes.

“They usually choose localities that are either near a decent-sized park or a forest cover. It gives them a chance to vanish in the dark in case they are chased. They are always on foot… They cross boundary walls, climb up pipes to enter balconies and flee after the heist through the exact same route,” a police officer said.

Police said the gang was notorious in Delhi in the 90s and some of their burglaries even ended in murder. In 1991, they killed two people during a robbery in Lodhi Colony. In 2014, they killed a 21-year-old woman in Narela.

According to police, members of the Kachha Baniyan gang mostly belong to a nomadic community in Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra. Police also claimed the members don’t operate as a single unified gang. Instead, each group, typically made up of seven to eight family members, functions independently, they claimed.

In the city, police said, the gang members carry out reconnaissance of their targets. Then, they choose a half moon or a new moon night to execute the robbery. “They believe they are men of the dark, and that darkness is an ally,” said another policeman.

When they steal gold jewellery, police said they don’t divide it ornament by ornament. “They take it to their villages, rub them on stones to extract the gold, and then divide the gold dust by weight,” the police officer said.

They have little interest in diamonds, referring to them dismissively as “glass,” another police officer said. If they come across gold or silver jewellery studded with diamonds, they typically discard the stones after extracting the precious metal.

The Kachha Baniyan gang never really stopped their heists in Delhi. What has changed though, as per police, is their murderous spree.

“They are still likely to kill if someone sees their face or interrupts their robbery. But the fear of being shot by the police, and the presence of high-tech surveillance systems, has made them avoid murders as much as possible,” said a police officer.

Even so, once they leave the city, tracking them down remains a daunting task. Police officers said that during raids, the community display solidarity in their villages, with residents acting as their eyes and ears. “There are rivalries among different gangs, and occasionally a tip-off may come from them — but it’s rare. If a gang discovers who informed the police, they will go after the person and even target their family,” another police officer said.