"we did not want to let him go."
Mumbai Police have highlighted a case from May 2023 in which officers posed as a Baraati to arrest a robbery suspect, who was also the bride’s uncle.
Officers received a tip-off that the suspect would be attending a wedding.
A seven-member team then travelled from Mumbai’s Dadar to Yavatmal. They attended the wedding as members of the groom’s Baraat and were able to arrest Vinod Devkar.
Devkar was allegedly involved in a robbery case worth Rs. 50 Lakh (£47,000) and had been on the run for over a year.
On March 17, 2022, officers registered a theft case after Devkar walked into a businessman’s house and escaped with the cash.
The businessman had been out of the city at the time.
Because a duplicate set of keys were used to enter the property, investigators suspected an inside job.
The businessman’s driver, Pradeep Kanade, was questioned and later confessed to handing the keys to Devkar.
Police said four of Devkar’s relatives, Rahul Kuradkar, Manish Parab, Bhushan Pawar and Mangala Kuradkar, were also arrested as they had benefited from the crime.
Devkar remained on the run, moving to different cities.
One investigator said: “As he was the main culprit, we kept looking for him and later we decided to cultivate a source in his hometown.
“An informer from Yavatmal reached out to us in the first week of May and said that Devkar’s niece was going to tie the knot on May 15 and he would definitely be present at her wedding ceremony.”
A police team comprising of Assistant Police Inspectors Ramkrishna Sagade and Bhagwan Paygan, and Constables Data Shinde, Ajit Mahadik, Mahesh Kolte, Durga Kolte and Manish More left for Yavatmal.
An officer said: “This was the first in 14 months that we had received concrete information on Devkar and we did not want to let him go.”
To catch Devkar off guard, officers bought outfits, turbans and sunglasses for the wedding.
The officer added: “To avoid any kind of suspicion, we even gifted envelopes with cash to them.”
The Mumbai officers sought help from the local police station to ensure that their men were stationed around the venue.
Between 10 and 11 am, officers identified Devkar. One officer then asked Devkar to come with him.
The officer continued:
“We told him that we have some wedding-related work. We took him outside and forced him to sit in our car.”
Devkar was then taken to the police station in Yavatmal.
After completing the formalities, he was taken to Dadar Police Station.
During questioning, Devkar admitted to the robbery and said he had spent all of the stolen cash.
One officer said: “He stayed in different hotels while he was in hiding. He also liked going to dance bars and spent some money there.”
Devkar currently remains in prison.
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