Unravelled: The secrets of Delhi pickpockets
Read More:Pocketmaars|Pickpockets
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NEW DELHI: The crowded desi liquor stores were the preferred workstations for Mohan Kumar and his colleagues. In the evening, when men smelling of sweat and grime would holler at the counter, the gang would spring into action. The thekbaaz, or assistant who creates distraction, would shove a potential customer from the back. In the split second when he turned around, his wallet or mobile phone would disappear from his pocket.
The phone would be disposed off in an hour or two to a shopkeeper in Old Delhi. It didn't manner that the stolen goods trader paid them a fraction of its real price. "Whatever we made, we spent it on kebabs and drinks," he says.
Life was a rollercoaster ride for Mohan those days. Often the gang would gather at a phool (pick-pocket slang for a meeting at a pre-decided venue) and then leave for Uttam Nagar or any other business-friendly area. They would always stash a blade in their mouth. If caught, one of them would create a scene, even slashing himself to scare the crowd, and escape in the consequent melee. "We never operated near our homes. At the place where we lived, our records were always clean," he says.
Short, wiry and reasonably articulate, Mohan is the sort who hardly invites a second glance. Butpickpockets -- pocketmaars in local lingo -- come in all shapes and sizes. Another wallet-lifter standing next to Mohan is dressed in a worn-out jeans and a beat-up eggplant-coloured T-shirt that screams, Rock and roll rebel. In his flashy earrings, Noshu Nayak almost seems to be drawing attention to himself. And speaking with him, you realise that he is incapable of saying anything straight.
Both Mohan and Noshu claim to have quit the profession now. A thekbaaz to begin with, Mohan had graduated to a machine, the master pickpocket of a gang. But, as he himself admits, he was far from what is almost reverentially called an ustaad, an artful dodger -- an artist of crime with fingers so nimble you would gasp in awe of his art.
Good wallet-lifters are egoists; they pride in their trade. The best have self-inflicted blade marks on their forearms: a sort of status symbol, says a cop. Some years ago Kamaljeet alias Daboo lorded over the world of pickpockets in the Capital. It is said he could, and often would, filch a wallet, empty it and put it back in the victim's pocket. His gang operated mainly in buses around the Dhaula Kuan area. A man with three wives and a mistress, he is known to have donated a share of his earnings to a Balaji temple in Rajasthan.
Sources say pickpocketing is a painstakingly acquired craft. In another era, rookies were trained to nick wallets by putting two fingers into a narrow-necked vessel smeared with ink. The interns were expected to insert their fingers in and out without touching the vessel's neck. Nowadays, Mohan says, newcomers are first taken on reccee. They observe and assist the machines at work. For TOI photographer's benefit, he demonstrates a few tricks of the trade. He looks elsewhere as his hands filch a mobile phone from an unsuspecting pocket. "A machine is the leader of the gang and protected by the rest. When a machine is in danger of getting caught, he must be rescued by the thekbaj," says Noshu. A machine generally fileches he booty and passes it on to the nearest thekbaz. He performs the task while the thekbaz whisks the booty away.
Pickpocketing is essentially teamwork; though, solo artists too exist. Pickpockets, both males and females, operate in crowded metros, city buses, railway stations, bus terminals and daily markets. On May 3, eight women purse-snatchers were arrested from Kashmiri Gate metro station in north Delhi.
Summer is the pickpockets' high season; winter is said to be bad for business because people often walk with hands in trousers. Pickpockets filch wallets, ATM cards, credit cards -- everything a pocket holds. A senior cop says they have the predatory instincts of a tiger. "Their work schedule depends on the area. For instance, every morning pickpockets eagerly wait for the daily small traders in Old Delhi and Ajmeri Gate railway stations. They also operate in the narrow bylanes of the Sadar Bazaar crockery market," says a cop.
Between Jan 1, 2011 and 30th April, 2012, 1,004 cases of pick-pocketing were reported in the capital, police statistics show. Of them, 714 cases were worked out and 958 cases persons arrested. Overall, there is about 7% decline in cases of pickpocketing between 2009 and 2011.
Both senior cops and ex-pickpockets says there's a subtle change in the DNA of those in the profession now. The ustaads - Jo ankhon se soorma chura lete the (who could steal kohl from eyes) -- have been replaced by a new brash breed who are willing to flash a knife if caught and even stab if necessary. Unlike their predecessors who took pride in the subtlety and non-violence of their craft, the new breed can be hostile. "One reason is that many of them are addicted to smack," a cop says. Usually armed, many pickpockets quickly graduate to armed robbery.
In Azadpur mandi last week, a gang of wallet-snatchers stabbed a 40-year-old to death when he stopped them from nicking a farmer's wallet. Last October police arrested pickpocket Parvez alias Nadeem, operated in buses between Delhi Gate, ISBT, Kashmere Gate and Kamla Market. If caught, he would attack victims with a knife and flee, cops said. "Professionalism is fast disappearing from every walk of life. Why would pickpockets be any different?," says a police officer.
Pickpocketing is a global phenomenon. A TOI journalist visiting Greece a couple of years ago was robbed of his wallet in the Athens metro. "It was a split-second job," he recalls.
But in the USA, pickpockets are a vanishing tribe. Last year writing for Slate.com, Joe Keohane lamented, "pickpocketing in America was once a proud criminal tradition, rich with drama, celebrated in the culture, singular enough that its practioners developed a whole lexicon to describe its intricacies. Those days appear to be over." He also quoted Harvard economist Edward Galesar saying, "Pickpocketing is more or less dead in this country." Muggers and snatchers have been replaced them. Indications are the pickpockets' of New Delhi could be going the same way.
(Names of pickpockets have been changed on request)
Pickpocket slang
* Machine: Main pickpocket of a gang
* Thekbaaz: Assistants mainly used to distract attention
* Paplu: Potential pickpocket's target
* Phool: Meeting place
* Bater: Back pocket
* Chhati: Front pocket
A pocketful of movies
* The Adventures of Tintin (2011): Remember the roomful of wallets that Thompson twins stumble into in this Steven Spielberg flick?
* Haath Ki Safai (1974): Randhir Kapoor is a wallet-lifter who sings the superhit, Peene walon ko peene ka bahana chahiye
* Harry In Your Pocket (1973): Elegant crime yarn with the stylish James Coburn in the lead
* Pocket Maar (1956): Dev Anand plays a pickpocket. There is a 1974 film with the same name with Dharmendra in the lead
* Kismet (1943): Ashok Kumar is an endearing pickpocket in this blockbuster that ran for over three years in Kolkata
The phone would be disposed off in an hour or two to a shopkeeper in Old Delhi. It didn't manner that the stolen goods trader paid them a fraction of its real price. "Whatever we made, we spent it on kebabs and drinks," he says.
Life was a rollercoaster ride for Mohan those days. Often the gang would gather at a phool (pick-pocket slang for a meeting at a pre-decided venue) and then leave for Uttam Nagar or any other business-friendly area. They would always stash a blade in their mouth. If caught, one of them would create a scene, even slashing himself to scare the crowd, and escape in the consequent melee. "We never operated near our homes. At the place where we lived, our records were always clean," he says.
Short, wiry and reasonably articulate, Mohan is the sort who hardly invites a second glance. Butpickpockets -- pocketmaars in local lingo -- come in all shapes and sizes. Another wallet-lifter standing next to Mohan is dressed in a worn-out jeans and a beat-up eggplant-coloured T-shirt that screams, Rock and roll rebel. In his flashy earrings, Noshu Nayak almost seems to be drawing attention to himself. And speaking with him, you realise that he is incapable of saying anything straight.
Both Mohan and Noshu claim to have quit the profession now. A thekbaaz to begin with, Mohan had graduated to a machine, the master pickpocket of a gang. But, as he himself admits, he was far from what is almost reverentially called an ustaad, an artful dodger -- an artist of crime with fingers so nimble you would gasp in awe of his art.
Good wallet-lifters are egoists; they pride in their trade. The best have self-inflicted blade marks on their forearms: a sort of status symbol, says a cop. Some years ago Kamaljeet alias Daboo lorded over the world of pickpockets in the Capital. It is said he could, and often would, filch a wallet, empty it and put it back in the victim's pocket. His gang operated mainly in buses around the Dhaula Kuan area. A man with three wives and a mistress, he is known to have donated a share of his earnings to a Balaji temple in Rajasthan.
Sources say pickpocketing is a painstakingly acquired craft. In another era, rookies were trained to nick wallets by putting two fingers into a narrow-necked vessel smeared with ink. The interns were expected to insert their fingers in and out without touching the vessel's neck. Nowadays, Mohan says, newcomers are first taken on reccee. They observe and assist the machines at work. For TOI photographer's benefit, he demonstrates a few tricks of the trade. He looks elsewhere as his hands filch a mobile phone from an unsuspecting pocket. "A machine is the leader of the gang and protected by the rest. When a machine is in danger of getting caught, he must be rescued by the thekbaj," says Noshu. A machine generally fileches he booty and passes it on to the nearest thekbaz. He performs the task while the thekbaz whisks the booty away.
Pickpocketing is essentially teamwork; though, solo artists too exist. Pickpockets, both males and females, operate in crowded metros, city buses, railway stations, bus terminals and daily markets. On May 3, eight women purse-snatchers were arrested from Kashmiri Gate metro station in north Delhi.
Summer is the pickpockets' high season; winter is said to be bad for business because people often walk with hands in trousers. Pickpockets filch wallets, ATM cards, credit cards -- everything a pocket holds. A senior cop says they have the predatory instincts of a tiger. "Their work schedule depends on the area. For instance, every morning pickpockets eagerly wait for the daily small traders in Old Delhi and Ajmeri Gate railway stations. They also operate in the narrow bylanes of the Sadar Bazaar crockery market," says a cop.
Between Jan 1, 2011 and 30th April, 2012, 1,004 cases of pick-pocketing were reported in the capital, police statistics show. Of them, 714 cases were worked out and 958 cases persons arrested. Overall, there is about 7% decline in cases of pickpocketing between 2009 and 2011.
Both senior cops and ex-pickpockets says there's a subtle change in the DNA of those in the profession now. The ustaads - Jo ankhon se soorma chura lete the (who could steal kohl from eyes) -- have been replaced by a new brash breed who are willing to flash a knife if caught and even stab if necessary. Unlike their predecessors who took pride in the subtlety and non-violence of their craft, the new breed can be hostile. "One reason is that many of them are addicted to smack," a cop says. Usually armed, many pickpockets quickly graduate to armed robbery.
In Azadpur mandi last week, a gang of wallet-snatchers stabbed a 40-year-old to death when he stopped them from nicking a farmer's wallet. Last October police arrested pickpocket Parvez alias Nadeem, operated in buses between Delhi Gate, ISBT, Kashmere Gate and Kamla Market. If caught, he would attack victims with a knife and flee, cops said. "Professionalism is fast disappearing from every walk of life. Why would pickpockets be any different?," says a police officer.
Pickpocketing is a global phenomenon. A TOI journalist visiting Greece a couple of years ago was robbed of his wallet in the Athens metro. "It was a split-second job," he recalls.
But in the USA, pickpockets are a vanishing tribe. Last year writing for Slate.com, Joe Keohane lamented, "pickpocketing in America was once a proud criminal tradition, rich with drama, celebrated in the culture, singular enough that its practioners developed a whole lexicon to describe its intricacies. Those days appear to be over." He also quoted Harvard economist Edward Galesar saying, "Pickpocketing is more or less dead in this country." Muggers and snatchers have been replaced them. Indications are the pickpockets' of New Delhi could be going the same way.
(Names of pickpockets have been changed on request)
Pickpocket slang
* Machine: Main pickpocket of a gang
* Thekbaaz: Assistants mainly used to distract attention
* Paplu: Potential pickpocket's target
* Phool: Meeting place
* Bater: Back pocket
* Chhati: Front pocket
A pocketful of movies
* The Adventures of Tintin (2011): Remember the roomful of wallets that Thompson twins stumble into in this Steven Spielberg flick?
* Haath Ki Safai (1974): Randhir Kapoor is a wallet-lifter who sings the superhit, Peene walon ko peene ka bahana chahiye
* Harry In Your Pocket (1973): Elegant crime yarn with the stylish James Coburn in the lead
* Pocket Maar (1956): Dev Anand plays a pickpocket. There is a 1974 film with the same name with Dharmendra in the lead
* Kismet (1943): Ashok Kumar is an endearing pickpocket in this blockbuster that ran for over three years in Kolkata
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