A five-member interstate gang that robbed railway passengers in the pretext of helping them and by attention diversion was arrested by railway police.

Police seized around one kilogram of gold jewellery valued at Rs 28 lakh from the gang comprising Subhash (44), a native of Hissar in Haryana, Ranveer Singh (43) from Delhi’s Sultanpuri, his son-in-law Lalit Kumar (26), Satvir (46) and Vinod (31).

A senior railway police officer said the gang has a couple of cases in the Cantonment and KR Puram police stations.

The gang targeted software engineers T Dileep Kumar and Sushmita, who were returning to the city after getting married on February 8 in Andhra Pradesh by Howrah-Yeshvantpur express.

The gang, who travelled in the same coach as the newlyweds, noticed Sushmita’s mehndi and figured out that they were recently married. When the couple was getting down at KR Puram railway station, the gang stole the bag containing 300 grams of gold jewellery in the pretext of helping them with their luggage.

The couple filed a complaint with the Cantonment police after noticing the missing bag.

Police, who formed a special team, arrested the gang after a covert operation that lasted for five days.

Investigations revealed that Ranveer, the kingpin, has five such gangs working in different states. The gang operates only in trains. When one of the gang members Lalit brought a huge booty two-and-a-half years ago, Ranveer was so happy that he got his daughter married to him.

The probe further revealed that the gang would travel to the city by train once a month wearing impressive clothes to give the appearance that they are well-to-do and get friendlier with fellow passengers. They pretend to help them with their luggage while getting down, divert their attention and make away with the valuables.

Police took custody of a gang involved in similar crimes, who told them that the accused belonged to their village and return to KR Puram after committing robbery. The special police team waited at the station for five days and when the gang arrived, they checked their bags to find 1 kg of gold along with the 300 grams of jewels that belonged to Sushmitha.