Maharashtra: 'Underwear' gang steals gold worth $5,954 with some bananas in Nashik

An unusual incident from Maharashtra’s Nashik has left the locals shocked. A group of few men wereseen breaking into a home and a college in Malegaon late at night, but this is not the bizarre part. All men were found roaming in “underwear” and are now known as the“underwear” gang.

The incident occurred late at night on Monday (Sep 2) when a CCTV camera captured these unusual thieves, wearing vests and underwear, breaking into the premises. Soon the group of these men was named the “chaddi-baniyan gang” (underwear-vest gang) in the locality where the incident happened.

On Monday night, the gang dressed up in minimal clothing entered a home and a college in the area and stole around 70 gm gold, worth $5,954(Rs 5 lakh), and also picked some bananas with them on their way back.

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Not only in Nashik, the "chaddi baniyan" gang also gained notoriety over a series of attacks in other parts of the country. Members of the gang typically commit crimes wearing underwearand sometimes carry sharp weapons to scare their targets.

It is not clear if the multiple groups committing such robberies are connected to one big gang, or if the "underwear" attacks are just a modus operandi to mislead investigators.

The gang's theft in Malegaon comes shortly after multiple cases of thefts were reported by a “gown” gang. This gang was caught on security cameras dressed in women's gowns and targeting residential neighbourhoods.

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Several homes in Malegaon were targeted last week by the “gown” gang, seen armed with sharp weapons. They also stole money from the donation box in a temple.

The "gown" gang and "chaddi-baniyan" robberies have created fear among residents and people are demanding swift action from the police.

In one such unusual incident, a robbery gang from Noida became the talk of the town when they broke into homes, cooked pakoras (fritters) in the kitchen, chewed paans and then took off with valuables. In July this year, more than a dozen homes were targeted by these gangs of culinarily-inclined robbers.

(With inputs from agencies)