Ranchi, July 21: Around 100 members of the chaddi-baniyan gang were detained with Rs 3 lakh in cash and a huge quantity of gold and silver ornaments at Karmatand thana in Jamtara, over 300km from the capital, till yesterday night.

All are from the Gulgulia nomadic community. Police raids were still on when this report was filed this evening.

Banking on clues from the CCTV footage of an underwear-clad gang stealing ornaments from a jewellery shop at Pundag in the wee hours of July 15, a police team led by Ranchi SSP Kuldeep Dwivedi swung into action following a tip-off yesterday and picked up over 100 members of the Gulgulia community, including women and children.

Police said the men stole while the women and children were mainly involved in doing recces and hiding the stolen goods.

Ranchi city SP Aman Kumar said all those detained would not be arrested. "We are taking their help to nab the main culprits. Police are trying to identify buyers of stolen ornaments too," he added.

A police officer engaged in the operation told The Telegraph that it was for the first time so many members belonging to Gulgulia community had been detained.

"These members of the chaddi-baniyan gang, belonging to the nomadic Gulgulia community, committed loot and theft. They committed crime wearing undergarments," a police official told this newspaper while the raids were still on.

Prodded further, city SP Kumar said a clear picture would emerge only after the conclusion of the raids.

"We are also trying to identify the members of the gang involved in the Pundag jewellery store crime," city SP Kumar said.

Some gang members had decamped with cash and jewellery from Mangalam Jewellers in New Pundag locality under Pundag thana area in the wee hours of July 15. They were caught in the act by the CCTV cameras in the shop, giving the cops a solid lead.

According to the owner of the shop Ravi Kumar, the thieves, nicknamed the chaddi-baniyan gang, had cleaned out Rs 10 lakh in cash, 17kg of silver and nearly 1kg of gold ornaments.