According to the police, the gang's main areas of operation were Lajpat Nagar, Greater Kailash, Defence Colony and New Friend's Colony. On March 24, a milk trader from Hathras in Uttar Pradesh, Pratap Chaudhary, was visiting someone in Garhi village near Lajpat Nagar. He went inside the house, leaving his suitcase in his Tata Safari. Chaudhary's driver Raju was in the vehicle. The suitcase contained Rs 80,000 and some important documents.

While Chaudhary was inside the house, around 3-4 men approached Raju and said that he had dropped some money on the road. When Raju said that the money wasn't his, the men apparently insisted that it was. While Raju got into an argument with some of the men, the others allegedly stole the suitcase. The driver raised an alarm and Chaudhary came rushing out. He managed to nab one of the men -- Kumar -- but the others managed to flee with the suitcase.

The police found out that Kumar was originally from Ramji Nagar, Trichy, in Tamil Nadu, and a team was sent there for further investigations. The police discovered that members of the Servei community in the Mill Colony and Kathur areas of the district came to cities in North India to steal bags and suitcases.

The men generally travelled in groups, rented rooms in JJ colonies and stole bags from busy market places. Once a target was selected, the men threw a few currency notes on the ground. They then asked the target if the money was his and some of the gang members used the conversation as a ploy to distract the target. While this happened, the other gang members would steal the bag or suitcase.

Currency notes weren't the only bait. According to the police, the gang often used food crumbs. These would be thrown on the clothes of the victim. Some of the gang members would walk up to the victim and comment on his soiled clothes. The robbery would take place if the victim went to wash off the crumbs.

At times they used children. The gang got small children to create a commotion behind the target's vehicle. When he got down to scold them, the gang members would make off with the target's belongings.

According to the police, the men roamed around cities in north India for around two months at a time, after which they would return to Trichy. Once the money was spent, another trip would be made.

Seven members of this gang were arrested today while they were on their way from Badarpur to Nizammudin. They allegedly confessed to their involvement in 25 such cases and claimed to have stolen goods worth Rs 10 lakh in the south district itself.

Those arrested have been identified as K. Velayudhan (47), D. Gopi (32), Dharamendran (24), G. Rajagopalan (67), V. Gunalan (35), Hari (17) and one minor boy. With these arrests the police claim to have worked out 25 such cases. The police claim to have recovered a .32 bore S&W US-made revolver, 11 live cartridges, four knives, Rs 25,000 in cash, three suitcases, six bags, calculators, digital diaries and clothes from them.