Three male members of the “Banjara gang” have been arrested in connection with multiple thefts across the city in the past month, police said.

The male members of the gang engage their wife and children in cheating people and robbing homes in the guise of begging, the police said. The gang had been active in parts of Entally, Phoolbagan and Narkeldanga in the past few weeks.

“But in Narkeldanga and Entally, the men themselves were involved… they had gone disguised as beggars,” an officer said.

Cops started investigating two thefts in Narkeldanga and Entally last month when they came across CCTV footage that had the same set of male beggars present in the area where the thefts had been reported.

The third case was reported in the Phoolbagan police station area.

Gold ornaments, expensive utensils, laptops and other electronic devices had been reported stolen in all three locations.

“A pattern was emerging. It became clear that the same gang was operating in all these locations,” a detective department officer said.

A separate team comprising officers of the detective department’s anti-burglary squad was formed to track down the gang.

Investigators got to know that a group of men had been camping on the Sealdah station premises for the past few weeks. Cops learnt that the men would usually send their wives and children to roam around the city and steal valuables from houses and shops whenever they could.

Three men were arrested in the Sealdah station area, two of whom were spotted in the CCTV footage of the areas where the thefts had been reported. The police identified them as Shekhar Nag, Indra Singh and Khokon Singh.

The station area was raided around 2am on September 12, an officer said. The gang was caught sleeping. There were many men and women and children but only the three were picked up because of the direct evidence, the officer said.

Cops have seized gold and silver ornaments, laptops, mobile phones, a camera, and a mobile phone power bank from them.

The gang keeps shifting from one place to another. Women with kids in their arms beg during the day.

As a part of the modus operandi, women and children beg and steal and the men sell the stolen goods and run their families with the money, the police said.

A few months ago, two women from a similar all-women gang had been arrested in Patuli. They had tried to steal valuables from a house in the guise of beggars with children in their arms. One of the women was pregnant, the police said.