Delhi Crime Season 2: Is Kachcha Baniyan Gang Real?

Netflix's crime thriller series Delhi Crime hit Netflix on Friday. Directed by Tanuj Chopra and created by Richie Mehta, the show focuses on the gruesome crime investigations carried out by Delhi police officers. The sequel of the show follows the notorious ‘Chaddi Baniyan Gang’ or ‘Kachcha Baniyan Gang’ which wreaked havoc across many states in northern India, including the national capital, at their peak in the 1990s.

The last season saw ‘Madam Sir’ Vartika (Shefali Shah) investigating the 2012 Delhi gangrape case. The latest instalmemt is independent of the previous season, except for the changes in the personal and professional lives of the police personnel who work to keep Delhi safe. In season 2, they race against time to uncover a Kachcha Baniyan gang – a criminal group in India that targets wealthy homes to rob and bludgeon to death anyone who resists them. Dear viewers, if you are wondering whether the show has fictionalised the gang or the season is drawn from real-life incidents, we’ve got you covered. Here’s what you should know about them.

Was kachcha baniyan gang real?

Delhi Crime’s makers were indeed inspired by real-life gangs, which are also known as ‘Chaddi Baniyan gangs’ and were operating in North India in the 1990s. The name was derived from their attire as the members of the Kachcha Baniyan gangs wore only their underwear when committing their crimes.

They also wore masks and covered their body in oil (the show mentioned the same) to disguise their identities as they went about their attacks in remote locations. The gangs were known to disguise themselves as beggars or common labourers during the day while they looked for vulnerable houses and plotted their attacks.

Interestingly, the kachcha baniyan gang activity has been reported since 1987, and earned notoriety in the 90s for their rampage across North India. They have been reported to be active in Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Delhi Rajasthan, and Andhra Pradesh. They came back under scrutiny in 2016 for a highway robbery where they attacked a family and raped two women.

Chopra said on working on season two: “Before we wrote a word of the script, we went through documents and case files and interviewed reporters who covered the crimes when they were happening. We spoke to police, and academics who covered the communities the show is about, and people from the community itself. All those perspectives go in to crafting our narrative.”

Tillotama Shome played a Kachcha Baniyan gang member called Lata/Karishma dominating the screen in the later episodes.

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