New Delhi: For years, their names were whispered in police corridors like urban legends — the phantom of the high-stakes heist and the predator of the residential sprawl. Sanjay Sharma alias Darinda (35) and Lokesh Srivas alias Chooha (32) represented two distinct brands of terror that haunted Delhi’s streets: one a violent storm of bullets and fire, the other a silent, surgical thief who could vanish with Rs 25 crore worth of gold. The revolving door of the justice system proved to be their ally, as both men treated their previous arrests not as endings but as brief intermissions. Darinda, a career criminal, earned his moniker through a violent career and over 100 cases to his name as the architect of the “burgle-and-burn” gang, a terrifying signature where he torched the homes of south Delhi he plundered. He barely let the ink dry on his Sept 2025 release papers before he was back in the shadows of RK Puram, allegedly racking up a dozen fresh robberies in a matter of months. Similarly, the “Lone Wolf” Srivas walked out of Bilaspur Jail on Jan 29, 2026, only to return to his “hobby” within 48 hours, striking three shops in a single night. But this week, the duo ran out of luck. In two separate operations involving midnight shootouts and cross-border manhunts, the cops shattered their streaks of defiance, dragging both masters of crime back into the grip of the law. The cops from RK Puram police station lay in wait at 3am to catch Sanjay Darinda. The patience paid off, and he was caught with his associate, albeit after an exchange of fire in which the suspect was shot in his knee by Inspector Ravinder Tyagi and his team. In his backpack, police found the cold, hard tools of a trade he had refined since childhood: housebreaking gear and the chilling remains of his latest spree. A 7.65mm pistol and cartridges, besides empty bullet shells, were seized from the spot. But as one set of handcuffs clicked shut in RK Puram, another high-stakes drama was unfolding across the city. The crime branch was closing the net on the “Lone Wolf” Srivas. He was the man who pulled off the legendary Rs 25 crore heist in Bhogal, disappearing with 30kg of gold as if it were a casual hobby. Srivas, a rare breed, is a criminal from Chhattisgarh who works alone, treating high-stakes burglary not just as a profession, but as a passion. He is named in around 50 sensational heists across the country. Released from jail only in Jan this year, he could not resist the siren call of the capital. Within 48 hours of his release, he had already struck three shops in Raipur, looting Rs 7 lakh in a whirlwind operation before slipping back into the labyrinth of Delhi. He thought he could vanish again, but the crime branch’s surveillance and technical “dragnets” proved otherwise. He was intercepted before he could turn the city’s jewellery hubs into his next playground.
