Patna: Daylight burglaries by a gang of young women are the latest worry for police in Saharsa.
The gang, which police sources said comprises good-looking women between 20 and 25 years of age, has hit at least six houses in one month, escaping with cash and gold jewellery worth over Rs 5 lakh in the district headquarters town which is around 234km northeast of Patna.
A source in the district police outlined the modus operandi of the gang.
The women first find a house that is deserted.
Then, an advance reconnaissance team checks out the house - whether it is deserted ot not.
Once the advance team gives the all-clear, other members break in.
The latest targets of the gang were in the Professors' Colony and Laxminia localities. Public servants and professionals - who stay away from home during the daytime - are soft targets.
Among the homes the gang has hit are the official residence of district land acquisition officer Ravi Ranjan, and the residences of bank official Shiv Kumar Singh and retired principal Devakinandan Singh.
Saharsa Town police station house officer (SHO) R.K. Singh said he has never come across such a gang, and that the police knew about the "lady don" and her associates from some labourers who saw the thieves coming out of the houses that were burgled.
"They collect only cash and gold jewellery and nothing else," the SHO said. "The gang has already been identified and raids are underway to nab them."
Most of the burglaries happened between 12noon and 1pm.
"Incidents of theft during night have declined due to night patrol," SHO Singh claimed.
He also said a similar gang was active in neighbouring Madhepura district as well. "Our counterparts in Madhepura are also facing a similar problem," the SHO Singh said, adding the gang was quite different from the one known as the Kodha gang of Katihar. "It is an entirely a new gang."
The cops believe the gang members are experts at identifying gold.
"That is why they steal real gold jewellery articles of high value, and touch little else," said a police source.
