The Double Life of a Criminal Mastermind
In a dramatic revelation that reads like a crime thriller plot, Delhi Police has apprehended a 51-year-old fruit seller who allegedly masterminded a series of sophisticated bank heists across multiple Indian states. Kamrul alias Mamu, who operated a fruit cart in West Delhi's Mahavir Enclave by day, was revealed to be the leader of an organized interstate criminal gang responsible for multiple bank burglaries spanning six years.
The Elusive Criminal Operation
According to Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime Branch) Harsh Indora, Kamrul's gang, commonly known as the 'Mamu Gang,' had been actively involved in bank burglaries across several states, with particular focus on Karnataka and Maharashtra. The gang's innovative modus operani involved posing as ordinary fruit vendors while conducting discreet surveillance of target banks.
By day, Kamrul and his associates would blend into market crowds, quietly studying bank premises, observing staff routines, and mapping security loopholes. Their daytime camouflage allowed them to move completely unnoticed even in the immediate vicinity of the banks they planned to target.
The gang operated with sophisticated tools and followed a textbook strategy: they would spend days, sometimes weeks, selling fruit near their target bank while studying security patterns, noting when guards changed shifts, and identifying vulnerabilities. When the robbery plot was ready, they would strike under cover of darkness with specialized tools, disable security systems to impair electronic evidence, and then vanish—dispersing to different cities where they would resume posing as fruit sellers.
The Final Capture and Criminal History
Kamrul's criminal career came to an abrupt end on Wednesday when SI Ravi Bhushan of the Delhi Police Crime Branch received specific intelligence about his location. A raiding team led by Inspector Gautam Malik, under the supervision of ACP Rajpal Dabas, strategically laid a trap near 60 Futa Road in Uttam Nagar.
After a brief surveillance operation, Kamrul was successfully apprehended while still operating his fruit cart in Mahavir Enclave. The arrest has helped crack three major cases from Karnataka alone, where non-bailable warrants had been issued against him, including one from a 2019 case in Badami.
Police records reveal that Kamrul, a resident of Badaun district in Uttar Pradesh, has been building his criminal reputation since 1996. An illiterate man who took to crime early, he was first booked under the Gangster Act in 1996. By 2000, he was facing several charges ranging from attempted murder to arms violations.
His criminal history includes links to more than ten cases across Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Karnataka, with violations under the Gangster Act, Arms Act, and charges of attempted murder dating back to 1996.
Ongoing Investigation and Implications
Kamrul is currently in police custody and being questioned about other members of his gang. While his arrest has broken the combination of role-based disguise and nomadic dispersal that enabled the gang to strike at multiple locations while delaying detection, investigators believe several gang members remain at large.
These remaining members are likely still hiding in plain sight behind fruit carts in markets across India, continuing the same pattern of disguise, surveillance, execution, and dispersal that made the 'Mamu Gang' so difficult to track for so many years.
The case highlights how sophisticated criminal operations can operate undetected through clever disguises and patient planning, raising questions about security protocols at financial institutions across the country.
