Fragrance, lungi style help police nab cardamom thieves

The sweet fragrance of a spice -- along with a different style of tying a lungi -- led the police to arrest two people who allegedly stole sacks of green cardamom worth Rs 14 lakh from a godown in north Delhi's Lahori Gate.
Pawan Kumar and his cousin Rahul Mishra were arrested from Khari Baoli, Delhi's spice market, yesterday. The police recovered 19 bags with 950 kilograms of the spice from them.
The two accused posed as owners of the godown and hired two labourers to carry 26 sacks to another godown.
After the labourers were identified, the police zeroed in on the two men. The police said they were looking for two others involved in the crime.

On May 26, the police were informed of a break-in and burglary at the godown in Tilak Bazar, Lahori Gate, Deputy Commissioner of Police (North) Jatin Narwal said.
When a police team under the supervision of Inspector Vinod Narang, SHO (Lahori Gate), scanned CCTV footage from cameras installed in the area, it found that the bags had been taken to a godown near Delhi's wholesale market, Sadar Bazar.

Though the faces of the labourers transporting the sacks were not clear, they were identified by the characteristic way in which tied their lungis, the officer said.
Sections of Rajasthani labourers wore their lungis in that particular way, the police discovered when the team visited areas where labourers gathered every morning for work.

The two workers were identified after the police talked to a dozen or so labourers from Rajasthan.
The police learnt that the accused had used cutters to break open the godown locks, and pretended they were the owners when they asked the labourers to carry the bags out.
The workers did not remember the godown to which they had transported the bags but could recall the area, the police said.
The team started scanning the area along with members of its community policing initiative, Eyes and Ears. That was when it learnt that a strong smell of green cardamom was emanating from a godown in Gali Batashan.

The two accused were nabbed and 19 bags were recovered from the godown, Narwal said.